
NODERIN 




METHOD* 



NINTH EDITION 

REVISED TO DATE 




Published hyTM SILVER MFI. CO., Salem, Ohio, U.S. A 



MODERN 
SILAGE METHODS 



LATEST REVISED EDITION 
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



An entirely new and practical work on Silos, their construction and the 

process of filHng, to which is added complete and reliable 

information regarding Silage and its composition; 

feeding, and a treatise on rations, being a 



FEEDERS* AND DAIRYMEN'S GUIDE 



PUBLISHED 
AND COPYRIGHTED BY 



THE SILVER MANUFACTURING CO. 

SALEM, OHIO 
U. S. A. 



3B(^S 



\1i3 



Copyrighted 1913, by 
The Silver Manufacturing Co. 



©Cf.A33064;3 



PREFACE 



This book has heen written and published for the pur- 
pose of furnishing our patrons and others with accurate 
and full information on the subject of silo construction 
and the making of silage. It has been the aim of the au- 
thors to present the subject in a clear, matter-of-fact man- 
ner, without flourish or rhetoric or flight of imagination, 
believing that the truth concerning the advantages of the 
siloing system is good enough. The testimony presented, 
which is purposely kept close to the experience of author- 
ities on feeding subjects in and outside of experiment sta- 
tions, will abundantly prove, we believe, that the equip- 
ment of a dairy or stock farm in almost any part of the 
world is no long^er complete without one or more silos 
on it. 

The nev/ chapter on "Silage Crops for the Semi-Arid 
Regions and for the South" will be of widespread interest 
to thousands in the Great Southwest, and the chapters on 
"The Summer Silo," and "The Use of Silage in Beef Pro- 
duction," and "Concrete or Cement Silos" will be found 
especially timely. In all other respects the book has been 
revised and brought up to date. 

In order that a work of this kind be accurate and reli- 
able, and bear the scrutiny of scientific readers, the use 
of a number of scientific terms and phrases is rendered 
necessary, and in order that these may be more readily 
comprehended by Agriculturists, a comprehensive glossary 
or dictionary of such terms is included, following the last 
chapter, which can be referred to from time to time, or 
can be studied previous to reading the book. 

In the compilation of certain parts of the book and 
in the revision of the "Feeder's Guide" we have had the 
valuable assistance of Prof. Woll, of Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station, author of "A Book on Silage" and "A 
Handbook for Farmers and Dairymen." Free use of the 
former book has been made in the preparation of this 
volume, as well as of experiment station publications 
treating the subject of silage. 

Hoping that this latest revision of "Modern Silage 
Methods" will prove helpful to our patrons, and incidentally 
suggest to them that the "OHIO" Silage Cutters and 
Blower Elevators are manufactured by us, we are. 
Very truly, 

THE SILVER MFG. CO. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PREFACE 3 

INTRODUCTORY 7-10 

CHAPTER I. 

Advantages of the Silo — Preservation of a larger quantity 
of original food value enabled by the use of the Silo 
than any method known — Losses of nutritive value in 
dry curing — Small losses in the Siloing Process — The 
Silo furnishes a feed of uniform quality — Economy of 
making — Economy of storage — No danger of rain — No 
danger of late summer droughts — Food from thistles — 
Value in intensive farming — Other advantages. .. .11-23 

CHAPTER II. 
Summer Silos. 
Necessary in supplementing summer pastures and in tiding 
herd over period of drouth, heat and flies — Reduces 
pasture acreage required — Avoids labor of soiling crop 
system — ^Purdue Station Experiments — Solves summer 
drouth problem — Permits night pasturing — Storage of 
surplus crops — Comments by the agricultural press — 
Feeding of summer silage 24-30 

CHAPTER III. 
Silage in Beef Production. 

A substitute for roots for fattening cattle — Prevents "burn- 
ing out" of steers — Silage fed steers topping market — 
Four 500-ton silos for steers only — Advantages to the 
beef feeder — Experiments at the Ohio and Indiana 
Stations — At the Kansas and Iowa Stations — Experience 
of one of largest beef cattle feeders in East — Prof. 
Soule's experiments in the South — Silage good for 
stockers 31-44 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER IV. 
Silage System and Soil Fertility. 
Helps maintain soil fertility — Every crop grown robs soil 
of fertilizing elements — Restoration has vital bearing 
on our crop yields — Value of barnyard manure — Every 
farm a manure factory with silage — Keeping fertility 
on the farm 45-50 

CHAPTER V. 
How to Build a Silo. 

Silos — General requirements for silo structures — On the 
size of silo required — On the form of silos — Relations 
of horizontal feeding — Area and number of cows kept 
— Location of the silo — Different types of silo struc- 
tures — Round wooden silos — The silo roof — Modifica- 
tions of the Wisconsin Silo^ — Plastered round wooden 
Silos;— Brick-lined Silos — Stave Silos — Cheap Stave 
Silos — A modification of a stave Silo — Connecting 
round silos with the barn — Other forms of round silos — 
Brick and stone Silos — Silos in the barn — Underground 
Silos — ^Octagonal Silos — Cost and estimates for differ- 
ent kinds 51-123 

CHAPTER VI. 
Concrete or Cennent Silos. 

"The silo of the future" where permanence is desired — 
Possibilities of reinforced concrete — Continuous hollow 
walls — Importance* of strong foundation and of reinforc- 
ing — Cost of 78 concrete silos — "Forms" used for mono- 
lithic walls — Metal-lath reinforced, silos — All-metal silos 
— Cement blocks; how made — To maintain cement 
lining — Reinforced cement blocks — Cement block silos 
described 124-138 

CHAPTER VII. 

Silage crops — Indian corn — Soils best adapted to corn 

culture and preparation of land — Varieties of corn for 

the silo — Time of cutting corn for the silo — Methods of 

planting corn — Other silage crops 139-157 



6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER Vlir. 
Silage Crops for the Arid and Semi-Arid Regions — Import- 
ance of Sorghum, Kafir and Milo for silage — Mixtures 
of the sorghums and other crops — Cowpeas, field peas, 
soy beans, alfalfa, beet leaves and tops, Russian thistle, 
etc. — ^Conditions in the Great Southwest — Silage crops 
for the Southern States 158-171 

CHAPTER IX. 

Filling the Silo — Indian Corn — Siloing corn "ears and all" 
— The filling process — The proper distribution of cut 
material in the silo — Size of cutter and power required 
— Length of chain elevator required — ^Directions for 
operating "Ohio" Blower Cutters^ — Danger from car- 
borijc-acid poisoning in silos — Covering the siloed fod- 
der — Use of water in filling silos — Clover for summer 
silage^ — Freezing of silage 172-189 

CHAPTER X. 

How to feed silage — Silage for milch cows — Silage in the 
production of certified milk — Silage for beef cattle — 
for Horses and Mules — for Sheep — for Swine — Silage for 
poultrj^ — Additional testimony as to the advantage of 
silage — Corn silage as compared with root crops — Corn 
silage as compared with hay — Corn silage compared 
with fodder corn 190-213 

CHAPTER XL 
A feeder's guide — Composition of the animal body — Com- 
position of feeding stuffs — Digestibility of foods — Rela- 
tive value of feeding stuffs — Feeding standards — How 
to figure out rations — Grain mixtures for dairy cows — 
Average composition of Silage crops of different kinds, 
in per cent— Analysis of feeding stuffs — Ready refer- 
ence tables 214-241 

GLOSSARY 242-245 

CONCLUSION 246 

[NDEX . >. 247-251 



Modern Silage Methods. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Twenty-five years ago few farmers knew what a silo 
was, and fewer still had ever seen a silo or fed silage to 
their stock. Today silos are as common as barn buildings 
in many farming districts in this country, and thousands of 
farmers would want to quit farming if they could not have 
silage to feed to their stock during the larger portion of 
the year. Twenty-five years ago it would have been neces- 
sary to begin a book describing the siloing system v/ith 
definitions, what is meant by silos and silage; now all 
farmers who read agricultural papers or attend agricultural 
or dairy conventions are at least familiar with these 
words, even if they do not have a chance to become famil- 
iar with the appearance and properties of silage. They 
know that a SILO is an air-tight structure used for the 
preservation of green, coarse fodder in a succulent con- 
dition, and that SILAGE is the feed taken out of a silo. 

We shall later see which crops are adapted for silage 
making, but want to state here at the outset that Indian 
corn is pre-eminently the American crop suited to be pre- 
served in silos, and that this crop is siloed far more than 
all other kinds of crops put together. When the word 
silage is mentioned we, therefore, instinctively think of 
corn silage. We shall also follow this plan in the dis- 
cussions in this book; when only silage is spoken of we 
mean silage made from the corn plant; if made from 
other crops the name of the crop is always given, as 
clover silage, peavine silage, etc. 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

History of the Silo. — ^While the silo in one form or 
another dates back to antiquity, it was not until the latter 
part of the seventies that the building of silos intended 
for manufacture of silage began in this country. In 
1882 the United States Department of Agriculture could 
find only ninety-one farmers in this country who used silos. 
During the last twenty-five years, however, silos have 
gradually become general in all sections of the country 
where dairying and stock-raising are important industries; 
it is likely, if a census were taken of the number of silos 
in this country today, that we would find between a half 
and three-fourths of a million of them. The silo is today 
considered a necessity on thousands of dairy farms, and we 
find most of them in the states that rank first as dairy 
states, viz.: New York, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsyl- 
vania, etc. The farmers that have had most experience 
with silage are the most enthusiastic advocates of the silo- 
ing system, and the testimony of intelligent dairymen all 
over the country is strongly in favor of the silo. Said a 
New York farmer recently in one of our main agricultural 
papers: "I would as soon try to farm without a barn as 
without a silo," and another wrote, "I wouldn't take a 
thousand dollars for my silo if I could not replace it." The 
well-known agricultural writer, Joseph E. Wing, says: "No 
stock feeder who grows corn can afford to ignore the 
silo." "Buff Jersey," an Illinois dairy farmer and writer 
on agricultural topics, declares his faith in silage as fol- 
lows : "I am fully satisfied that silage is a better feed, 
and a cheaper one, than our pastures." Another writer 
says: "The silo to my mind presents so many advantages 
over the system of soiling that it is bound to eventually 
do away with the ''use of soiling crops." According to 
the Cornell Experiment Station, the "silo, especially to the 
dairy farmer, has become an almost necessary adjunct to 
the equipment of the farm." 

Our first effort in writing this book will be to pre- 
sent facts that will back up these statements, and show 
the reader the many advantages of the silo over other 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

systems of growing and curing crops for the feeding of 
farm animals. We shall show that up-to-date dairy or 
stock farming is well nigh impossible without the aid of 
a silo. The silo enables us to feed live stock succulent 
feeds the year around, and preserves the fodder in a bet- 
ter condition and with less waste than any other system 
can. We shall see the why and wherefore ~of this in the 
following pages, and shall deal with the best way of mak- 
ing and feeding silage to farm animals. We wish to state 
at the outset that we do not propose to indulge in un- 
warranted statements or claims that will not stand the 
closest investigation. In the early days of the history 
of the silo movement it was thought necessary to make 
exaggerated claims, but this is no longer the case. Naked 
facts are sufficient to secure for the silo a permanent 
place among the necessary equipment of a modern dairy 
or stock farm. In discussing the silo we shall keep close 
to what has been found out at our experiment stations, 
and, we believe, shall be able to prove to any fair-minded 
reader that the silo is the greatest boon that has come 
to modern agriculture since the first reaper was manu- 
factured, and that with competition and resulting low 
prices, it will be likely to become more of a necessity t6 
our farmers in the future than it has been in the past. 
We aim to convince our readers that the most sensible 
thing they can do is to plan to build a silo at once if they 
do not now have one. It is unnecessary to argue with 
those who are already the happy possessors of a silo, for 
it is a general experience where a farmer has only pro- 
vided for immediate wants in building his silo that he will 
build another as soon as he has had some experience 
with silage and finds out how his stock likes it, and 
how well they do on it. 

The life of the silo should always be carefully con- 
sidered in connection with its initial cost. A silo might 
be built for $150 which would last ten years, the cost 
exclusive of upkeep being $15 a year. With th^e use of 
better materials or construction on the same size silo its 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

life might be increased to twenty years at an additional 
outlay of perhaps $50, which it will be readily seen is 
much cheaper per year. Quality usually goes hand in 
hand with price and the farmer who can afford it should 
not make the mistake of building anything but the best 
if he wishes to economize to greatest advantage. 

Modern practice has proven that no man need say "I 
cannot afford a silo," because any farmer who is at all 
handy with hammer and saw can provide a silo large 
enough for moderate requirements with very little actual 
outlay of money, and this same built-at-home silo will 
"earn for its owner money to build a better one and 
enlarge his herd. Directions for building* several kinds 
of such silos are given in the following pages. It must 
not be expected that they will last as long or will prove 
as economical in the long run as more substantially-built 
factory-made silos, still they give excellent service .until 
the farmer can afford to put up a structure of better 
quality. Experience in making and feeding silage- will be 
gained at much less cost by using a good silo in the 
beginning. 

We mention this fact here to show farmers who may 
be considering the matter of building a silo, or who may 
be inclined to think that the silo is an expensive luxury^ 
only for rich farmers, that the cost of a silo need not 
debar them from the advantages of having one on their 
farm, and thus secure a uniform succulent feed for their 
stock through the whole winter. Farmers v/ho have not 
as yet informed themselves in regard to the value of the 
silo and silage on dairy or stock farms, are respectfully 
asked to read carefully the following statements of the 
advantages of the silo system over other methods of pre- 
serving green forage for winter or summer feeding. 

It has been said that "Whoever makes two blades of 
grass grow wher-e but one grew before is a benefactor 
to mankind." A silo makes it possible to keep two cows 
where but one was kept before, and who would not gladly 
double his income? Does not this interest you? 



CHAPTER I. 

ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

The silo enables us to preserve a larger quantity of the 
food materials of the original fodder for the feeding of farm 
animals than is possible by any other system of preservation 
now 'known. Pasture grass is the ideal feed for live stock, 
but it is not available more than a few months in the 
year. The same holds true with all soiling crops or tame 
grasses as well. When made into hay the grasses and 
other green crops lose some of the food material contained 
therein, both on account of unavoidable losses of leaves 
and other tender parts, and on account of fermentations 
which take place while the plants are drying out or being 
cured. 

In cases of Indian corn the losses from the latter 
source are considerable, owing to the coarse stalks of 
the plant and the large numbers of air-cells in the pith 
of these. Under the best of conditions cured fodder corn 
will lose at least ten per cent, of its food value when 
cured in shocks; such a low loss can only be obtained 
when the shocks are cared for under cover, or out in 
the field under ideal weather conditions: In ordinary farm 
practice the loss in nutritive value will approach twenty- 
five per cent., and will even exceed this figure unless 
special precautions are taken in handling the fodder, and 
it is not left exposed to all kinds of weather in shocks 
in the field through the whole winter. These figures 
may seem surprisingly large to many farmers who have 
left fodder out all winter long, and find the corn inside 
the shock bright and green, almost as it was when put 
up. But appearances are deceitful; if the shocks had 
been weighed as they were put up, and again in the late 

11 



12 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

winter, another story would be told, and it would be 
found that the shocks only weighed anywhere from a 
third to a half as much as when they were cured and 
ready to be put in the barn late in the fall; if chemical 
analysis of the corn in the shocks were made late in the 
fall, and when taken down, it would be found that the de- 
crease in weight was not caused by evaporation of water 
from the fodder, but by waste of food materials contained 
therein from fermentations, or actions of enzymes, (See 
Glossary.) 

The correctness of the figures given above has been 
abundantly proved by careful experiments conducted at a 
number of different experiment stations, notably the Wis- 
consin, New Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Colorado 
experiment stations. A summary of the main work in 
this line is given in Prof. Woll's Book on Silage. In the 
Wisconsin experiments there was an average loss of 23.8 
per cent, in the dry matter (see Glossary), and 24.3 per 
cent, of protein, during four different years, when over 
36 tons of green fodder had been put up in shocks and 
carefully weighed and sampled at the beginning and end 
of the experiment. These shocks had been left out for 
different lengths of time, under varying conditions of 
weather, and made from different kinds of corn, so as to 
present a variety of conditions. The Colorado experi- 
ments are perhaps the most convincing as to the losses 
which unavoidably take place in the curing of Indian corn 
in shocks. The following account is taken from Prof. 
Cook's report of the experiments. As the conditions de- 
scribed in the investigation will apply to most places on 
our continent where Indian corn is cured for fodder, it 
will be well for farmers to carefully look into the results 
of the experiment. 

"It is believed by most farmers that, in the dry cli- 
mate of Colorado, fodder corn, where cut and shocked 
in good shape, cures without loss of feeding value, and 
that the loss of weight that occurs is merely due to the 
drying out of the water. A test of this question was made 



LOSSES IN DRY CURING. 



13 



in the fall of 1893, and the results obtained seemed to 
indicate that fully a third of the feeding value was lost 
in the curing. This result was so surprising that the fig- 
ures were not published, fearing that some error had crept 
in, though we could not see where there was the possibility 
of a mistake. 

"In the fall of 1894 the test was repeated on a larger 
scale. A lot of corn was carefully weighed and sampled. 
It was then divided into three portions; one was spread 
on the ground in a thin layer, the second part was set up 
in large shocks, containing about five hundred pounds of 
green fodder in each, while the rest was shocked in small 
bundles. After remaining thus for some months, until 
thoroughly cured, the portions were weighed, sampled 
and- analyzed separately. The table gives the losses that 
occurred in the curing. 





Large Shocks. 


Small Shocks. 


On the Ground. 




Total 
Weight 


Dry 

Matter 


Total 
Weight 


Dry 

Matter 


Total 
Weight 


Dry 

Matter 




Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


When Shocked . . . 


952 


217 


294 


77 


186 


42 


After Curing 


258 


150 


64 


44 


33 


19 


Loss in Weight . . . 


694 


67 


230 


33 


153 


23 


Per Cent of Loss . . 


73 


31 


78 


43 


82 


55 



"So far as could be told by the eye, there had been 
no loss. The fodder had cured in nice shape, and the stalks 
on the inside of the bundles retained their green color, 
with no sign of molding or heating. And yet the large 
shocks had lost 31 per cent, of their dry matter, or feed- 
ing value; the small shocks 43 per cent, and the corn 
spread on the ground 55 per cent. 

"On breaking or cutting the stalks these losses were 
explained. The juice was acid, and there was a very 
strong acid odor, showing that an active fermentation 



14 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

was taking place in this seemingly dry fodder. We 'had 
noticed this strong odor the fall before and all through 
the winter. Wlien the fodder corn for the steers is put 
through the feed cutter that same strong smell is present. 

"It can be said, then, that the dryness of the climate 
in Colorado does not prevent fodder corn from losing 
a large part of its feeding value through fermentation. 
Indeed, the loss from this source is fully as great as in 
the damp climate in New England. 

"As compared with the losses by fermentation in the 
silo, the cured fodder shows considerably the higher loss/" 

In experiments at the Wisconsin station eleven 
shocks cured under cover in the barn lost on an average 
over 8 per cent, of dry matter and toward 14 per cent, of 
protein. In an experiment at the Maine Station over 14 
per cent, of dry matter was lost in the process of slow 
drying of a large sample of fodder corn under the most 
favorable circumstances. "It is interesting to note that 
this loss falls almost entirely on the nitrogen-free ex- 
tract, or carbohydrates (see Glossary), more than two- 
thirds of it being actually accounted for by the diminished 
percentage of sugars." 

Since such losses will occur in fodder cured under 
cover with all possible care, it is evident that the aver- 
age losses of dry matter in field-curing fodder corn, given 
in the preceding, by no means can be considered exagger- 
ated. Exposure to rain and storm, abrasion of dry leaves 
and thin stalks, and other factors tend to diminish the 
nutritive value of the fodder, aside from the losses from 
fermentations, so that very often only one-half of the 
food materials originally present in the fodder is left by 
the time it is fed out. The remaining portion o^ the 
fodder has, furthermore, a lower digestibility and a lower 
feeding value than the fodder corn when put up, for 
the reason that the fermentations occurring during the 
curing process destroy the most valuable and easily 
digestible part, i. e., the sugar and starch of the nitrogen- 



THE SILOING PROCESS. 15 

free extract, which are soluble, or readily rendered sol- 
uble, in the process of digestion. 

2. Losses in the Siloing Process. — ^As compared with 
the large losses in food materials in field-curing of Indian 
corn there are but comparatively small losses in the silo, 
caused by fermentation processes or decomposition of the 
living plant cells as they are dying off. The losses in this 
case have been repeatedly determined by experiment 
stations, and, among others, by those mentioned in the 
preceding. The average losses of dry matter in the fod- 
der corn during the Siloing period of four seasons 
(1887-'91) as determined by Prof. Woll at the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station- was about 16 per cent. The silos 
used in these trials, as in case of nearly all the early 
experiments on this point, were small and shallow, how- 
ever, only 14 feet deep, were rectangular in form, and 
not always perfectly air-tight, a most important point 
in silo construction, as we shall see, and a portion of the 
silage therefore came out. spoilt, thus increasing the 
losses of food materials in the siloing process. The 
losses reported were, therefore, too great, and there is 
now an abundance of evidence at hand showing that the 
figures given are higher than those found in actual prac- 
tice, and the necessary loss in the silo comes consider- 
ably below that found in the early experiments on this 
point. There are plenty of cases on record showing 
that ten per cent, represents the maximum loss of dry 
matter in modern deep, well-built silos. The losses found 
in siloing corn at a number of experiment stations dur- 
ing the last ten years have come at or below this figure. 
It is possible to reduce the loss still further by avoid- 
ing any spoilt silage on the surface, by beginning to feed 
immediately after the filling of the silo, and by feeding 
the silage out rather rapidly. Experiments conducted on 
a small scale by Prof. King in 1894 gave losses of only 
2 and 3 per cent, of dry matter, on the strength of which 
results, amongst others, he believes that the necessary 
loss of dry matter in the Silo need not exceed 5 per •ent. 



16 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

Summarizing our considerations concerning the rela- 
tive losses of food materials in the field-curing and silo- 
ing of Indian corn, we may, therefore, say that far from 
being less economical than the former, the silo is more 
so, under favorable conditions for both systems, and that 
therefore a larger quantity of food materials is obtained 
by filling the corn crop into a silo than by any other 
method of preserving it known at the present time. 

What has been said in the foregoing in regard to 
fodder corn applies equally well to other crops put into 
the silo. A few words will suffice in regard to two of 
these, clover and alfalfa. Only a few accurate siloing 
experiments have been conducted with clover, but enough 
has been done to show that the nec^'ssary losses in silo- 
ing this crop do not much, if any, exceed those of Indian 
corn, Lawes and Gilbert, of the Rothamsted Experiment 
Station, England, placed 264,318 pounds of first and sec- 
ond crop clover into one of these stone silos, and took 
out 194,470 pounds of good clover silage. Loss in weight, 
24.9 per cent. This loss fell, however, largely on the 
water in the clover. The loss of dry matter amounted 
to only 5.1 per cent., very nearly the same amount of loss 
as that which the same experimenter found had taken 
place in a large rick of about forty tons of hay, after 
standing for two years. The loss of protein in the silo 
amounted to 8.2 per cent. In another silo 184,959 pounds 
of second-crop grass and second-crop clover were put in, 
and 170,941, pounds were taken out. Loss in gross weight, 
7.6 per cent.; loss of dry matter, 9.7 per cent.; of crude 
protein, 7.8 per cent. 

In a siloing experiment with clover, conducted at the 
Wisconsin Station, on a smaller scale, Mr. F. G, Short 
obtained the following results: Clover put into the silo, 
12,279 pounds; silage taken out, 9;283 pounds; loss, 24.4 
per cent.; loss of dry matter, 15.4 per cent.; of protein, 
12.7 per cent. 

There is nothing in any of these figures to argue 
agayist the siloing of green clover as an economical prac- 



THE SILOING PROCESS. 17 

tice. On the other hand, we conclude that this method 
of preserving the clover crop is highly valuable, and, in 
most cases, to be preferred to making hay of the crop. 

No extended investigation has been made as to the 
losses sustained in the siloing of alfalfa, but there can be 
little doubt but that they are considerably smaller than 
in making alfalfa hay, if proper precautions guarding 
against unnecessary losses in the silo are taken. Accord- 
ing to the testimony of Professor Headden of the Colo- 
rado Experiment Station, the minimum loss from the fall- 
ing off of leaves and stems in successful alfalfa hay mak- 
ing amounts to from 15 to 20 per cent., and in cases 
where the conditions have been unfavorable, to as much 
as 60 and even 66 per cent, of the hay crop. Aside from 
the losses sustained through abrasion, rain storms, when 
these occur, may reduce the value of the hay one-half. 
The losses from either of these sources are avoided in 
■preserving the crop {n the silo, and in their place a small 
loss through fermentation occurs, under ordinary favor- 
able conditions, amounting to about 10 per cent, or less. 

There is this further advantage to be considered 
when the question of relative losses in the silo and in 
hay-making or field-curing green forage, that hay or corn 
fodder, whether in shocks or in the field or stored under 
shelter, -gets poorer and poorer the longer it is kept, as 
the processes of decomposition are going on all the 
time; in the silo, on the other hand, the loss in food sub- 
stances is not appreciably larger six months after the silo 
was filled than it is one month after, because the air 
is shut out, so that the farmer who puts up a lot of fodder 
corn for silage in the fall can have as much and as val- 
uable feed for his stock in the spring, or in fact, the fol- 
lowing summer or fall, as he would have if he proceeded 
to feed out all the silage at once. 

"Generally speaking, 3 tons of silage are equal in 
feeding value to one ton of hay. On this basis a much 
larger amount of digestible food can be secured from an 
acre of silage corn than from an acre of hay. The food 



18 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

equivalent of 4 tons of hay per acre can easily be pro- 
duced on an acre of land planted to corn." — (Plumb.)' 

3. Succulence. Succulent food is Nature's food. — We 
all kiiow the difference between a juicy, ripe apple and 
the green dried fruit. In the drying of fruit as well as of 
green fodder water is the main component taken away; 
with it, however, go certain flavoring matters that do not 
weigh much in the chemist's balance, but are of the 
greatest importance in rendering the food material pal- 
atable. It is these same flavoring substances which are 
washed out of the hay with heavy rains, and renders 
such hay of inferior value, often no better than so much 
straw, not because it does not contain nearly as much 
food substances, like protein, fat, starch, sugar, etc. (see 
Glossary), but because of the substances that render 
hay palatable having been largely removed by the rain. 

The influence of well-preserved silage on the diges- 
tion and general health of animals is very beneficial, ac- 
cording to the unanimous testimony of good authorities. 
It is a mild laxative, and acts in this way very similarly 
to green fodders. The good accounts reported of the pre- 
vention of milk fever by the feeding of silage are ex- 
plained by the laxative'^nfluence of the feed. 

4. Uniformity. The silo furnishes a feed of uniform 
quality, and always near at hand, available at any time 
during the whole year or winter. No need of flghting the 
elements, or wading through snow or mud to haul it from 
the field; once in the silo the hard work is over, and the 
farmer can rest easy as to the supply of succulent rough- 
age for his stock during the winter. An ample supply 
of succulent feed is of advantage to all classes of ani- 
mals, but perhaps particularly so in case of dairy cows 
and sheep, since these animals are especially sensitive 
to sudden changes in the feed. Also, stock raisers value 
silage highly on this account, for silage is of special value 
for feeding preparatory to turning cattle onto the watery 
pasture grass in the spring. The loss in the weight of 
cattle on being let out on pasture in spring is often so 



ECONOMY OF SILAGE. 19 

great that it takes them a couple of weeks to get back 
where they were when turned out. When let out in the 
spring, steers will be apt to lose weight, no matter whether 
silage or dry feed has been fed, unless they are fed some 
grain during the first week or two after they are turned 
out. For more detailed information regarding the feeding 
of silage for beef production, see chapter 3, page 28. 

5. Economy of Storage.— Less room is required for 
the storage in a silo of the product from an acre of land 
than in cured condition in a barn. A ton of hay stored 
in the mow will fill a space of at least 400 cubic feet; a 
ton of silage, a space of about 50 cjubic feet. Considering 
the dry matter contained in both feeds we have found -that 
8,000 pounds of silage contains about as much dry matter 
as 2,323 pounds of hay, or 160 against 465 cubic feet, that 
is, it takes nearly three times as much room to store 
the same quantity of food materials in hay as in silage. 
In case of field-cured fodder corn, the comparison comes 
out still more in favor of the silo, on account gf the 
greater difficulty in preserving the thick cornstalks from 
heating when placed under shelter. According to Pro- 
fessor Alvord, an acre of corn, field-cured, stored in the 
most compact manner possible, will occupy a space ten 
times as -great as in the form of silage. While hay will 
contain about 86 per cent, of dry matter, cured fodder 
corn often does not contain more than 60 and sometimes 
only 50 per cent, of dry matter; the quantities of food 
material in fodder corn that can be stored in a given 
space are, therefore, greatly smaller than in case of hay, 
and consequently, still smaller than in case of silage. 

Since smaller barns may be built when silage is fed, 
there is less danger of fire; thus decreasing the cost of 
insurance. 

6. No Danger of Rain. — Rainy weather is a disad- 
vantage in filling silos as in most other farm operations, 
but when the silo is once filled, the fodder is safe, and the 
farmer is independent of the weather throughout the 
season. 



20 ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. 

If the corn has suffered from drought and heat during 
the fall months, it is quite essential to wet the corn either 
as it goes into the silo, or when this has all iDeen filled, in 
order. to secure a good quality of silage; and unless the 
corn is very green when it goes into the silo, the addi- 
tion of water, or water on the corn from rain or dew, will 
do no harm. If the corn is too dry when put into the silo, 
the result will be dry mold, which is prevented by the 
addition of the water, which replaces that which has dried 
out previous to filling if this has been delayed, 

A common practice among successful siloists is to 
fill the silo when the lower leaves of the standing corn 
have dried up about half way to the ears. Generally, the 
corn will be in about the proper condition at that time, 
and there will still be moisture enought left in the plants 
so that the silage will come out in first-class condition. 

There must be moisture enough in the corn at time 
of filling the silo, so that the heating processes, which take 
place soon after, and which expel a considerable portion 
of the moisture, can take place, and still leave the corn 
moist after cooling, when the silage will remain in prac- 
tjically a uniform condition for several years if left 
undisturbed. But if, on account of over-ripeness, frosts, or 
excessive drought, the corn is drier than stated, it should 
be made quite wet as stated above, and there is little 
danger of getting it too wet. The writer has filled silo 
with husked corn fodder about Christmas, and as the 
fodder was thoroughly dried, a %-inch pipe was connected 
with an overhead tank in the barn and arranged to dis- 
charge into the carrier of the cutter as the cutting took 
place, a No. 18 Ohio cutter being used for that purpose. 
Although the full stream was discharged, and ,with con- 
siderable force, on account of the elevation of the tank, 
and the cut fodder in the silo still further wet on top with 
a long hose attached to a wind force pump, it was found, 
on opening the silo a month later, that none too much 
water had been used; the fodder silage came out in good 
condition, was eaten greedily by the milch cows, and 



ECONOMY OF SILAGE. 21 

was much more valuable that if it had been fed dry 
from the field. 

Where haymaking is precluded, as is sometimes the 
case with second-crop clover, rowen, etc., on account of 
rainy weather late in the season the silo will further- 
m.ore preserve the crop, so that the farmer may derive 
full benefit from it in feeding it to his stock. Frosted 
corn can also be preserved in the silo, and will come out 
a very fair quality of silage if well watered as referred 
to above. 

7. No danger of Late Summer Droughts. — By using 
the silo with clover or other green summer crops early 
in the season, a valuable succulent feed will be at hand 
at a time when pasture in most regions is apt to give 
but; then again, the silo may be filled with corn when 
this is in the roasting-ear stage, and the land thus en- 
tirely cleared earlier than when the corn is left to ma- 
ture and the corn fodder shocked on the land, making it 
possible to finish fall plowing sooner and to seed the 
land down to grass or winter grain. 

8. Food from Thistles. — Crops unfit for haymaking 
may be preserved in the silo and changed into a palatable 
food. This is not of the importance in this land of plenty 
of ours that it is, or occasionally has been, elsewhere. 
Under silage crops are included a number of crops which 
could not be used as cattle food in any other form than 
this, as ferns, thistles, all kinds of weeds, etc. In case 
of fodder famine the silo may thus help the farmer to carry 
his cattle through the winter. 

9. Value in Intensive Farming. — More cattle can be 
kept on a certain area of land when silage is fed, than 
is otherwise the case. The silo in this respect furnishes 
a similar advantage over field-curing fodders, as does the 
soiling system over that of pasturing cattle; in both the 
siloing and soiling system there is no waste of feed, all 
food grown on the land being utilized for the feeding of 
farm animals, except a small unavoidable loss in case of 



22 • ADVANTAGES OF THE. SILO. 

the siloing system incurred by the fermentation processes 
taking place in the silo. 

Pasturing the cattle is an expensive method of feeding, 
as far as the use of the land goes, and can only be prac- 
ticed to advantage where this is cheap. As the land in- 
creases in value, more stock must be kept on the same 
area in order to correspondingly increase the profits from 
the land. The silo here comes in as a material aid, and 
by its adoption, either alone or in connection with the 
soiling system, it will be possible to keep at least twice 
the number of animals on the land that can be done 
under the more primitive system of pasturing and feeding 
dry feeds during the winter. The experience of Goffart, "the 
Father of Modern Silage," on this point is characteristic. 
On his farm of less than eighty-six acres at Burtin, France, 
he kept a herd of sixty cattle, besides fattening a num- 
ber of steers during the winter, and eye-witnesses assure 
us that he had ample feed on hand to keep one hundred 
head of cattle the year around. 

10. Other Advantages. — Silage feeding does away with 
all aggravating corn-stalks in the manure, and prevents 
their waste as well. It excels dry feed for the cheap 
production of fat beef. It keeps young stock thrifty and 
growing all winter and enables the cows to produce milk 
and butter more economically. Its use lessens the labor 
required to care for a herd, if it is conveniently attached 
to the barn or feeding shed. It allows the spring pas- 
tures to be conserved until the opportune moment, and can 
be fed at any time of the year as occasion demands. It 
enables preservation of food which matures at a rainy time 
of the year, when drying would be almost impossible. It 
does away with the sj^stem of strictly grain farming where 
few of the elements are returned to the soil. It increases 
digestive capacity, that is, the chemical action that takes 
place is an aid to digestion that enables the cow to eat 
more than she otherwise could digest and assimilate, thus 
making more milk from the same food elements than she 
could make from any other dairy food product. 



ECONOMY OF SILAGE. 23 

We might go on and enumerate many other points 
in which the siloing process has decidedly the advantage 
over the method of field-curing fodder or haymaking; but 
it is hardly necessary. The points given in the preceding 
will convince any person open to conviction, of the supe- 
riority of the silo on stock or dairy farms. As we proceed 
with our discussion we shall have occasion to refer to sev- 
eral points in favor of silage as compared with dry feed, 
which have not already been touched upon. We shall now, 
first of all, however, discuss the Summer Silo; also the 
wonderful progress of the use of silage in beef production, 
and of its help in maintaining soil fertility. Afterwards, 
we will proceed to explain the method of building Silos 
and then discuss the subject of making and feeding silage. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SUMMER SILO. 

The summer silo is fast becoming popular and even 
necessary because of its splendid aid in supplementing 
summer pastures and tiding the herd over the period of 
drouth, heat and flies. Experiment stations that have 
studied the subject, strongly advocate its use and some 
of the leading agricultural papers have been speaking in 
no uncertain voice as to its advantages. 

"The summer silo is as certain to assert its value as 
American agriculture is certain to go forward rather than 
backward," says Breeder's Gazette of Chicago. "Pasture 
as at present used — or abused — is a broken reed. An over- 
grazed acre is the costliest acre that the farmer supports. 
Even in normal seasons grass rests in the summer time, 
and unless a fall and winter pasture is laid by, little good 
is derived from grass lands after the flush of spring. The 
silo supplements pastures, and carries the burden of the 
winter's feeding." 

Among dairymen Who have used summer silage for 
many years, permanent pastures have been greatly re- 
duced or even entirely dispensed with, A prominent 
Indiana dairyman recently remarked, "My dairy last year 
returned me approximately $5,000 and yet I would go out 
of business if I had to give up the silo. I would have to 
reduce the herd 50 per cent, if the summer silo was not 
used." That statement is merely based on the fact that 
enough silage to keep a cow or steer during its pasture 
season can be grown on from one-fourth to one-third the 
area required to keep the sarpe animal on pasture. Beef 
cattlemen are rapidly finding out about this "greater 
efficiency per acre of corn silage as compared with grass, 

24 



SUMMER FEEDING. 25 

and the similarity of the two feeds in their effect on 
cattle," and it leaves little room for doubt that "the silo 
will greatly reduce the pasture acreage required and will 
have a marked effect on beef production on high-priced 
land." 

Following the same line of thought Purdue Experiment 
Station Bulletin No. 13 says: 

"Too much depend-ence is usually placed upon pasture 
for summer feeding. Pasturing high priced land is un- 
profitable in these times. Few stop to consider the de- 
structive effects of trampling, that, while a cow is taking 
one bite of grass, she is perhaps soiling or trampling the 
life out of four others. If sufficient silage is put up each 
year part can well be used for summer feeding, which 
will be found less laborious than the daily hauling of 
green crops for the herd. The herd must not be allowed 
to shrink in flow unduly, as it is practically impossible 
to bring them back during the same lactation. The 
young stock, destined for future producers, must not be 
neglected on short pasture, for the labor and expense of 
supplying their needs as above indicated for the herd, is 
insignificant compared with the importance of their unim- 
paired growth." 

The Indiana Station states that "The most rapid and 
most economical gains ever made by two-year-old cattle 
fed experimentally at this station were made by a load 
of 800-pound cattle fed from March 17 to July 15, 1910, 
on a ration of shelled corn, cottonseed meal, corn silage 
and clover hay. During this period the cattle ate an' 
average daily feed of 14.61 pounds of corn, 2.24 pounds of 
cottonseed meal, 33.81 pounds of silage and 2.38 pounds 
of clover hay. They relished the silage as well in summer 
as in winter." 

There are many intelligent farmers who are providing 
a succession of fresh soiling crops and using them to 
great advantage in helping out short pastures. "But," 
says Professor Frazer of the Illinois Station, "there is 
necessarily much labor attached to preparing the ground, 
planting, raising, and harvesting the common crops used 



26 THE SUMMER SILO. 

for this purpose. There is usually much loss in being 
obliged to feed these crops before they are mature and 
after they are overripe. And for the farmer who can 
make the larger investment, the most practical way of 
all to provide green feed for summer drouth is to fill a 
small silo with corn silage. It not only saves the labor 
and inconvenience -in the putting in and cultivation of 
small patches of different kinds of crops, but also in har- 
vesting from day to day in a busy season cf the year. 

"These soiling crops can be dispensed with and all 
the feed raised from one planting in one field in the shape 
of corn. The whole field of corn for the silo may be cut 
at just the right stage of maturity when the most nutri- 
ment can be secured in the best possible condition of 
feeding. It also avoids the possibility of the soiling crops 
failing to ripen at the exact period when the drouth hap- 
pens to strike the pasture. For the silo may be opened 
whenever the pasture fails, regardless of the date, and the 
silage will remain in the best condition as long as needed. 
VvTien the pasture supplies enough feed again, what is 
left in the silo may be covered over and thus preserved 
without waste, and added to when refilling the silo for 
winter use." 

Further evidence comes from the Purdue Station. Prof. 
Skinner writes: 

"Many successful farmers with limited areas of pasture 
make a practice of filling a small silo for summer use. It 
has been well established that silage properly stored in 
a good silo when the corn or other crop is in the most de- 
sirable condition, will keep in good condition for several 
years. Many foresighted men taking advantage of this fact 
plan to have silage on hand the year round. They are 
thus prepared for any unusual conditions such as drouth, 
scant pasture, excessively long winters, and it is altogether 
practical and profitable. It is desirable to have a silo of 
relatively small diameter for summer feeding as it is 
necessary to feed considerable amount from off the top 
of the silage each day in order to keep it from moulding 
during the hot, damp weather. 



SUMMER FEEDING. 27 

There are three silos on the university farm and it is 
our aim to avoid having all these empty at the same time. 
A limited farm, greatly overstocked, makes it necessary 
to supplement the pastures every year, and while soiling 
crops are grown in abundance they cannot be relied upon 
because of the gravelly nature of the sub-soil underlying 
the farin, which means longer or shorter periods of drouth 
annually. 

It would be absolutely impossible to maintain the num- 
ber of animals on the college farm that we are successfully' 
carrying without the silage to supplement our pastures 
and soiling crops. Many Indiana men have come to lock 
on the silo as quite as important in supplementing the 
pastures as it is in furnishing succulence during the winter 
season." 

The dry pastures and burned-up hillsides following the 
drouth of 1910 made a very strong impression as to the 
importance of having good summer feeding. It was an 
eloquent though severe plea for the summer silo 'and led 
to some splendid testimony in its favor. The drouth "cut 
down the milk flow in most of the herds nearly 50 per 
cent. Not one farmer in a hundred had provided for this 
emergency by a good supply of succulent food that would 
make milk. It is the same old story over again. It seems 
to take a tremendous lot of pounding on the part of Provi- 
dence, to get it into farmers' heads that a summer silo is 
a grand thing. The Hoard's Dairyman herd of cows had 
50 tons or more of nice corn ensilage to turn to when 
feed grew short and they have rolled out the milk nicely 
right along. Besides, they will keep at it. There is noth- 
ing like a supply of ensilage for summer use. It is close 
by and handy to the stable for use when you want it. 
And furthermore it will produce more milk than any other 
kind of soiling feed." 

This is the experience of Wisconsin experimenters, 
who find that silage holds milk-flow during drouth even 
better than soiling. It is rational that it should. 

The summer drouth is with us to stay, and we might 
as well prepare to meet the situation most intelligently. 



28 THE SUMMER SILO. 

As a matter of fact, we have never known a single season 
in our practical experience to go through from end to end 
without a drouth, and even that in the best of what we 
might term our normal seasons. Major E. E. Critchfield, of 
Chicago, an agricultural expert, says that a good deal of 
effort has been made in various localities to carry over 
this particular season by soiling, but, he adds, we must 
remember that the man who does this is not in any sense 
prepared for soiling practice and it comes at a period 
when he is almost inordinately busy with other things 
and is, therefore, likely to fail of best results. 

If, however, he has a summer silo, or a good "heel" 
left in his winter silo, he has in it a place of greatest 
convenience for feeding and it is most likely to produce 
the best possible results. 

Night pasturing has been found to be a very valuable 
practice in connection with the summer silo. By running 
the cows into pasture at night they are absolutely undis- 
turbed by flies and other insects, and by keeping them 
in a darkened yet well ventilated barn during the day and 
feeding them from the silo, every advantage of the pasture 
and absolute freedom from its annoyances is secured. 

Another very valuable attribute of the summer silo 
is that it permits of saving crops in years of great plenty 
for other seasons of less plenitude. The desirability of 
this practice becomes evident wiien we recall how our 
mothers in years when fruit was very plentiful and cheap, 
nsed to put up a sufficient quantity to last for several 
years and we can hark back in our memories and testify 
as to the quality of the fruit and, therefore, the success 
of the practice. Now, since the siloing of green stock 
food is nothing more or less than a process of canning, 
it may be carried over several years without any deterring 
influences. 

The substance of a strong editorial in Wallace's Farmer, 
while referring particularly to the lesson of the 1910 



SUMMER FEEDING. 29 

drouth, applies with equal force wherever pasture is used 
or cattle are fed. It is worth quoting here: 

"The question we are constantly asked is: 'Will silage 
keep through the summer?' We are glad to be able to give 
a direct answer to this, not theoretically, but from per- 
sonal experience. We built a silo on one of the Wallace 
farms and filled it in 1908, and made the mistake of build- 
ing it too large. During the winter of 1908-9 the silage 
was not all used. Last fall we put in new silage on top of 
the old, and during the winter used out of the new silage, 
leaving the unused remainder in the bottom. We are now 
feeding that silage, and the man in charge, an experienced 
dairyman, tells us that after the waste on top was re- 
moved, this two-year-old silage is as good as any he ever 
used; that the cattle eat it as readily as anything and 
eat more of it than they did during the winter. 

"This is in entire harm^ony with every farmer we ever 
heard of who uses summer silage. If silage will keep two 
years without any waste except on the exposed portion 
of the surface, then it will certainly keep one. 

"Some people say: 'We may not have another summer 
like this.' To this we reply that a period of short pastures 
during July and August is the rule in all the corn belt 
states, and lush grass at this season of the year is a rare 
exception. Remember that seasons come in cycles of un- 
known duration, and the time of their coming is uncertain; 
that it always has been so, and it is safe to assume that 
they always will until the Creator sees fit to change his 
method of watering the earth. Therefore, well-made silage 
in a good silo is just as staple as old wheat in the mill. 
There will be a waste of several inches on the surface, 
just as there is waste of several inches on the surface 
of the hay stack or shock of corn fodder; but a man can 
afford that waste, if he has the assurance that his cows 
will not fail in their milk or his cattle lose flesh, even if 
there should be little or no rain for thirty or sixty days. 
When you put up a silo for summer use, you are going 
into a perfectly safe proposition, provided, of course, you 
build it right, and fill it properly." 

It is well to remember that less silage will naturally 
be fed in summer than in winter and in order tO' keep the 
surface in fairly good condition, at least three inches of 
silage should be taken off daily, where two inches suffice 



30 THE SUMMER SILO. 

in the winter. It will be found advisable therefore in 
building the summer silo to keep the diameter proportion- 
ately smaller. 

Silage spoils very quickly in hot weather when ex- 
posed, but not nearly so quickly where it is finely cut and 
well packed, because this more nearly excludes the air, thus 
reducing the amount necessary to be removed daily. By 
having the cutting knives sharp and set to cut i^-inch 
lengths the exclusion of air is so nearly complete that 
very little more silage needs to be removed in summer 
than in winter. If possible silage in summer should be 
fed in the shade because the hot sun acts very quickly 
and sometimes spoils the silage before the cattle eat it. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE USE OF SILAGE IN BEEF 
PRODUCTION. 

In his "Feeds and Feeding," published some years ago, 
Prof. Henry says in one paragraph, with regard to feeding 
silage to beef cattle: 

"Because of its succulence and palatability, this for- 
age is recommended as a substitute for roots for fattening 
cattle." In another paragraph: 

"If the stockman desires a cheap, succulent feed for 
his cattle in the winter time, he will find it in corn silage. 
The same quantity of nutriment that a root crop yields 
can be produced more economically in corn forage stored 
in the shape of silage, and this article can be fed with 
satisfaction to steers during the early stages of fattening. 
At first as much as forty or fifty pounds of silage may b© 
given daily to each steer; when the full grain feeding 
period arrives, let the allowance be cut down to 25 or 30 
pounds per day. A limited use of this feed will keep the 
system cool and the appetite vigorous." 

The same writer is also authority for the statement 
that the best and most economical way to prevent the 
"burning out" of steers being well fattened on corn, was 
to feed ensilage with the corn. 

Accumulating experience in many parts of the country 
covering a number of years indicates that -Prof. Henry 
was right, and it strongly approves the use of silage in 
maintaining beef herds and in fattening steers. In the 
minds of many farmers, the dairyman has long held a 
monopoly on the profitable use of this succulent food, and 
it is true that in cheapening production of dairy products 
and in maintaining the milk flow and the perfect condi- 
tion of his cows in those months when fresh grass is not 
to be had for them, the silage system has reached its 

31 



32 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

highest development. Each year, however, has seen a 
steady growth of sentiment in progressive stock-raising 
communities favorable to a more profitable use of corn 
fodder, and today many of the most prominent beef cattle 
breeders and feeders are among the foremost users of 
silage for feeding purposes. 

It is no secret that a prejudice has existed against 
silage in feeding circles. But the astonishing results 
achieved by every doubter who tried the experiment is 
"fact-evidence" of the most weighty nature and is serving 
as a stroing weapon against such prejudice. During 1912, 
silage-fed cattle topped the market repeatedly with record 
prices and it was no longer necessary to conceal their, 
identity at the market to evade discrimination. 

A battery of four monolithic silos — the largest in the 
West — was built in 1912, on the 14,000 acre beef ranch 
of Horace Adams, Maple Hill, Kan. Each was 20x60 feet. 
They hold 500 tons each and cost $3,300, and are to store 
feed for producing fine beef cattle. 

Many experiment stations have for some time been 
carrying on experiments to show the comparative value of 
silage and other feeds and these have very generally 
resulted with credit to corn silage as an economical and 
suitable feed for steers. 

A 150-day experiment ending April 17, 1912, with 70 
head of choice Hereford steers at the Illinois Experiment 
Station shtDwed among other things that in a ration of 
broken ear corn, alfalfa and silage, the larger the propor- 
tion of alfalfa to silage, the more rapid the gains, the 
higher the finish produced and the greater the profit. The 
larger the proportion of silage to alfalfa, the cheaper the 
gains. 

Prof. Herbert W. Mumford of the Illinois College of 
Agriculture, Urbana, in a recent article calls attention 
to the increasing interest in corn silage in connection with 
the feeding of beef cattle. The silo is today an essential 



SILAGE FOR FATTENING. ' 33 

feature in the successful dairyman's equinment, but its 
adoption by cattle feeders has been noticeably slower. 
Mr. Mumford says that "This is undoubtedly partly due 
to the fact that dairying more naturally lends itself to 
intensive methods while beef production has been more 
universally profitable when pursued in a large way by 
more or less extensive systems of farming. It is possible, 
too, that the cattle feeder has expected too much of silage 
and has confined the cattle too largely upon it. It is 
growing in favor among the beef producers and we confi- 
dently believe that it has a large place in the cattle feed- 
• ing of the future in the corn belt. 

It furnishes the best means of storing the entire corn 
crop, a part of which is now only partially utilized in the 
corn belt, with minimum waste. Experiment stations have 
been gradually but surely teaching us its usefulness in the 
feeding of beef cattle. Practical feeders here and there 
have been carefully trying it out, and with but very few 
exceptions where the beef producer has erected a silo, 
filled it with corn and fed it out to his beef cattle he has 
become a silage~for-beef-cattle convert. 

Silage is undoubtedly of especial value in the feeding 
of beef breeding cows and in the wintering of calves 
and young cattle intended for beef production. The 
Illinois Experiment Station has determined the economic 
importance of the silo in beef production in the state 
when used In connection with the feeding of Jbeet cows 
and young cattle. This importance might be briefly stated 
as follows: 

"Corn silage when supplemented with oats and hay, 
used for wintering calves intended for beef production, will 
produce thirty-five pounds more gain per steer during 
the season at the same cost of ration than when shock 
corn similarly supplemented is fed. This extra gain is 
worth 5 cents per pound, or $1.75 per calf. There are 
over 700,000 calves wintered in Illinois each year. 

"It should be borne in mind that the cattle feeders 



34 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

who are apparently succeeding best with silage are those 
who buy young, light-weight feeders weighing from 600 
to 1,000 pounds, feeding them silage in largest amounts at 
the beginning of the fattening period, providing abundant 
shelter, and that in most instances the silage is withdrawn 
from the ration several weeks before the cattle are fin- 
ished, and who do not depend upon silage exclusively. 
Several practical feeders have expressed the opinion that 
the main utility of silage is to prepare cattle for heavy 
feeding by putting them in condition to feed well; that 
as an appetizer and a laxative it has great value in start- 
ing cattle on feed." 

The investigations of the Ohio and Indiana Stations 
regarding the use of corn silage for fattening beef cattle, 
indicate that it can be used to good advantage, when 
stover and hay are high in price. The Farmer's Guide of 
Indianapolis thus comments on the matter: 

"Forty-two head of steers, most of them grade Short- 
horns, were used in an experiment in which 25 pounds of 
silage per steer was fed daily. The ration which included 
the silage gave almost exactly the same rate of gain as 
did the dry ration. 

"No difference in the finish of the two sets of cattle was 
apparent. This was shown by the fact that although when 
the cattle were at market, one pen contained only silage- 
fed cattle and another only dry-fed cattle, a buyer of 
wide experience, without knowing how the cattle had been 
fed, purchased both lots at the same price. Other expert 
cattlemen failed to note any difference between the two 

lots. 

"It is not to be expected that silage alone or silage and 
other rough feed will produce a high finish in a short 
feeding period, since not enough grain is present in the 
silage for this purpose. Less shelled corn, however, was 
required by the steers that received silage than by the 
ones that received only dry feed. 

"The results obtained by the Ohio station with the feed- 
ing of silage to beef cattle are similar to the experience 
of the Indiana station, where it was found that silage added 
to the feeding ration was an advantage in the v/ay of 
providing succulence. Several practical feeders have made 
a marked success with this feed and do not hesitate to 



SILAGE FOR BEEF CATTLE. 35 

recommend it. In fact, one Ohio man has several large 
silos, which he fills annually especially for feeding his 
beef cattle. 

"When it is figured that all the feeding value of the 
corn plant is preserved in the form of silage; that there 
is an immense saving in storage space; that it is easier 
handled in feeding, and that all animals eat it with a 
relish, it seems that the farmer might with advantage 
give silage a little more consideration. A silo, well filled 
will provide plenty of succulent, nutritious feed for live 
stock during that period of the year when pastures are 
short and during the winter months when green feed is 
unobtainable." 

The Indiana Experiment Station reports the results of 
a six months' feeding trial, wherein "one lot of steers was 
fed a ration of shelled corn, cotton seed meal and a full 
ration of corn silage. A second was fed a ration of shelled 
corn, cotton seed meal, some hay and about one-half a 
full ration of corn silage, while a third lot was fed all the 
corn and clover they would eat. Corn was valued at 
60 cents a bushel, cotton seed meal at $27 per ton, clover 
hay at $8 per ton, and corn silage at $3 per ton. At the 
beginning of the experiment the lots did not vary more 
than 25 pounds in total weight and all steers were pur- 
chased at the same price per hundredweight. There were 
ten steers in each lot, and hogs followed each lot to con- 
sume feed left in the droppings. 

The experiment opened Nov. 18, 1908, and closed May 
17, 1909. During this period of six months the first lot 
gained 4,658.3 pounds, or an average of 2.58 pounds per 
day; the second, 4,211.6 pounds, or 2.33 pounds per day;; 
the third, 3,416.6, or 1.89 pounds per day. The lot receivings 
the full silage ration, therefore, gained more than a half 
pound more per day than the lot receiving no silage, while 
that receiving half a full silage ration gained somewhat- 
less than half a pound more also than the lot receiving 
no silage. 

The cost of a pound of gain for the full silage fed lot. 
was $9.79; for the lot having a half silage ration, $11.35,, 



36 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

and for the clover and corn fed lot, $12.99. In the same 
order the first lot sold at $7.25 per hundredweight, or 99 
cents higher than was necessary to sustain neither loss 
nor gain on the proposition. The second sold at $7.15, or 54 
cents more than was necessary to sustain no loss, and the 
third at $6.90, or only 15 cents above the cost. The pork 
produced behind the first lot netted $107.23, behind the 
second $124.61, and the third, $97.68. The net profit re- 
sulting from feeding the ten steers receiving a full silage 
ration, shelled corn and cotton seed meal, was $24.04 per 
head, including the profit from the pork produced, that of 
the ten steers fed a half silage ration, some hay and shelled 
corn and cotton seed meal, $19.71 per head, and those re- 
ceiving clover and shelled corn only, $12.64 per head, both 
also including profit on the pork. The first lot, therefore, 
appears at an advantage of $11.33 per steer over the lot 
receiving no silage, while the second lot also appears at 
an advantage of $7.07 per steer over this lot. Judging 
from these results, the silo is a paying investment to the 
beef feeder. The difference in net profit from feeding 
these 30 steers the full silage ration and the corn and 
clover ration alone, would amount to $339.90 in favor of 
the full silage ration." 

Indiana and Ohio seem to have set the pace for feeding 
silage to beef cattle, and an increasingly large number of 
silos is being erected as a result of the stimulus given 
to this kind of feeding. The Breeder's Gazette of Chi- 
cago says: 

"Indiana feeders who have demonstrated to their own 
satisfaction that silage is valuable for beef production 
are expanding their operations this season, and have been 
liberal buyers, at Chicago, Omaha and Kansas City. South- 
ern Michigan will feed an unusually large number of cattle, 
owing to scarcity of lambs. Illinois has been a heavy pur- 
chaser both at Kansas City and Omaha, and Chicago 
could have sent five good feeding steers into nearby terri- 
tory where one has been available. 

"Continued high prices have encouraged cattle feeding 



SILAGE FOR BEEF CATTLE. 37 

in sections where, according to confident prophecy, the 
industry was on the wane." 

Quoting again from an agricultural publication: 

"The Kansas stations report that steers fed a ration 
with silage made better gains, and excelled those without 
silage as prime beef. The Ontario Agricultural College 
reports that more rapid gains and cheaper gains were 
made on grain and silage than on grain and hay or grain 
and roots. 

"From results it appears that cattle receiving silage as 
their sole roughness during the winter, made the largest 
average gains, did not drift materially when turned on 
grass after the first ten days, slaughtered out to better ad- 
vantage than dry-fed cattle, and were in a thriftier and 
better condition throughout the entire feeding period. This 
would go to show that succulent foods can be fed to cattle 
maintained as stockers and finished on grass. Larger re- 
turns can be got from feeding silage to cattle than from 
grazing them. This is only natural when we consider that 
an acre of corn yielding eight tons of silage will keep four 
cows 180 days, while an acre of pasture will keep only one 
cow that long." 

It is a mistake for the feeder to regard either silage 
or hay as a satisfactory substitute for the other, to the 
extent of entirely replacing one with the other. Says Mr. 
C. F. Curtiss of the Iowa Experiment Station: 

"The chief cause of complaint in the use of silage 
arises from the fact that it is too often regarded as a 
complete ration. The use of silage does not dispense with 
the use of grain, except in case of very moderate feeding 
for maintenance, without much reference to grain. Where 
good corn silage is used it may usually be substituted for 
about two-thirds the hay and about one-third the grain 
that would be used in full feeding, without the silage. 

"Clover hay is well adapted to supplement silage to 
correct the excessive acidity of heavy silage feeding and 
also to furnish the protein nutrients in which silage is 
lacking. It should not be left out of the ration when feed- 
ing silage." 

Prof. Plumb of the Ohio Agricultural College has this 
to say on the subject: 

"If silage is fed under cover, and to cattle not wallowing 



38 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

in mud or oozy manure, then good results will generally 
come from its use. However, hay or other dry roughage 
should also be fed. Silage fed twice a day and hay once 
should give good results. When cattle are being finished 
for shipment, then the amount of silage fed should be 
reduced and the dry roughage increased, this to prevent 
much shrinkage in shipping. However, in what is known 
as rational feeding, but little shrinkage is apt to occur 
from the use of the silage. In experiments with steers 
fed different rations at the Virginia station, those fed 
silage showed no appreciable shrinkage in the market 
over those fed exclusively dry feed. 

"In feeding experiments conducted at the Missouri 
station in 1906-7 with steers weighing about 800 pounds 
each at the beginning, those fed silage ate less dry matter 
than those fed whole stover or shreddeld stover and gained 
in weight, while the dry stover lots lost. The same sort 
of results were also secured from feeding siloed stover 
compared with air-dried material." 

One of the largest feeders of beef cattle in the Bast, 
Hon. Humphrey Jones, scored a center shot for "silage- 
for-beef" when he remarked: 

"We carry upon the same land more than fifty per 
cent, more cattle than we did before we had the silos, and 
whatever the correct theory of the matter may be, this 
solid hard fact is suflacient to satisfy us that very much 
more can be got out of the corn plant fed in the form of 
silage than when fed dry in any manner which is practi- 
cable with us." 

Mr. Jones has large stock farms at Washington C. H., 
Ohio. He is a heavy feeder of steers — feeds from 500 to 
1,000 annually — and he makes ensilage a very large factor 
in the ration. He speaks therefore from the standpoint 
of practical experience, and being a thorough business 
farmer, his statements can be relied upon as accurate. 
On this subject Mr. Jones says: 

"We have found in the experience of feeding all kinds 
of cattle, from calves to three-year-olds, that we can get 
as good gains from feeding ensilage as in any other 
method of feeding that we were ever familiar with. We 
add to our silage, of course, clover hay or alfalfa. We 
grow large quantities of these. During most of the time 



SILAGE FOR BEEF CATTLE. 39 

we have added to our corn soy beans cut in with it, be- 
cause they are very rich in protein. In addition to that 
we have fed cottonseed meal with the silage, and it is an 
ideal way to feed it, because cottonseed meal is a thing 
by which cattle may be injured if it is not properly fed. 
When sprinkled over the ensilage it is mingled with all 
that mass of roughage, and you can feed from three to 
five pounds of cottonseed meal for six months to cattle 
without any serious effects at all. We advise starting 
with about two pounds of cottonseed meal, and increasing 
up toward the end of the period to about five pounds; 
and with that, without the addition of a grain of corn, we 
have been able to make gains as rapidly and put the cattle 
in better finish than we were ever able to do in any other 
way. 

"Fifty bushels of corn to the acre will make about ten 
tons of ensilage as it comes from the field, and about 
eight tons as it comes out of the silo. There is a weight 
of about 3,000 pounds of corn in that, which you see is 
about 20 per cent, of the total weight as fed to the cattle; 
and the steer will eat about fifty pounds a day, which con- 
tains ten pounds of corn; and he is getting it in a form 
that he digests and utilizes every pound. If you add to 
that two to five pounds of cottonseed meal, all our infor- 
mation upon that matter is that it has a feeding value of 
about two and one-half times shelled corn; so that if you 
give a steer five' pounds of cottonseed meal, he is getting 
an equivalent of ten pounds or more of corn, in addition 
to the ten pounds of actual corn fed in the ensilage. If he 
digests and utilizes every pound of the twenty pounds of 
corn, either in the form of cottonseed meal or shelled 
corn, he will do well, if he has all the good roughage he 
wants. In addition to that, this ensilage puts him in the 
shape that he is when he is on grass. It is a succulent, 
cooling food, that keeps his hair in the same condition as 
when he is on grass, and it finishes him up evenly. Our 
experience has been that they finish up ihore uniformly 
on the ensilage than on dry feed. These gains, as you can 
see, if they are made as rapidly on the ensilage, hay, and 
cottonseed meal as they can be made in any other way, 
must be made much more economically, because you are 
utilizing there the stalk and the leaves and the husks of 
the corn plant, which, as I have said, counting the corn 
worth 40 cents a bushel, and fifty bushels to the acre, is 
worth two-fifths as much as the ears; so you are feeding 
about $12 or $13 worth that you are wasting in the ordi- 
nary way of feeding. 



40 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

"Briefly, therefore, it is our experience that the feeding 
of ensilage to cattle is valuable. It has long been recog- 
nized as an indispensable in the dairy, and I could never 
understand why, if it was good to put fat in the milk pail, 
it would not be good to put fat on the back. There is es- 
sentially no difference in the process that takes place in 
the digestive tract." 

Speaking of the feeding value of corn when put in the 
silo, Mr. Jones continues: 

"The putting of the corn in the silo is not going to in- 
crease the feeding value of it a particle, but it will render 
the grains more digestible. The food in a large silo is 
always so hot that you can't hold your hand in it, through 
the process of fermentation; and it "therefore puts the 
grain in condition so that it is more easily and completely 
digested. But with a practical feeder of cattle that is not 
a very material thing. It does not matter if the cattle 
do waste a great deal of the corn; he has the hogs to 
gather it up. So there is no increased value in the grain 
by putting it in the silo, notwithstanding the fact that the 
steer will digest a larger per cent, of it. The only place 
that the benefit or gain comes in is through getting the 
full value of the stalks. You do get every pound of that 
because the steer will eat it up completely. Our experi- 
ence covering a period of eight years is that the figure 
of 40. per cent, value in the stalks is not too high; in 
fact, I think it is low. Practically, I believe, the feeding 
value of corn by putting it in a silo is doubled. We have 
been able to carry twice as many cattle as we could 
before. 

With three-fourths of the feeders in the principal cattle- 
feeding sections of _ Ohio, shock corn only is fed and the 
corn stands out in the field all winter and is hauled to 
the feed lot as needed. Many shocks twist down and par- 
tially or wholly rot, all are soaked with the rains and 
beaten by the winds, get hard and woody, and are thus 
more or less damaged. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge among feeders that after the first of March the 
fodder in shock corn is of little value. Under favorable 
conditions, fattening cattle will eat only the best portions 
of the fodder, and the great bulk of it is wasted and 
thrown out to keep them up out of the mud. With all 
these things taken into consideration the gain in feed 
value to the average cattle feeder who uses shock corn, 
by reason of siloing the corn is, in our judgment, not less 
than fifty per cent." 



SILAGE-FED BEEF CATTLE. 41 

Silage-fed Beef Cattle in the South, 

After exhaustive experiments conducted at the Vir- 
ginia Station, Prof. Andrew M. Soule concludes that the 
results obtained illustrate the value of silage as a main- 
tenance food for winter feeding, whether the animals are 
to be slaughtered immediately or carried over and grazed 
during the summer; also, the silage can be used most 
advantageously by stockmen in the South and that its 
utilization would confer many advantages which are not 
now enjoyed and would add very much to the profits 
secured from the winter feeding of beef animals, no matter 
what disposition is to be made of them. He adds that the 
character of the silage has much to-do with its efficiency 
as a food stuff, and the skill and intelligence displayed 
in combining it with suitable companion foods exercise a 
determining influence on the results obtained under a 
given set of conditions. The vast importance of silage 
as an economic factor in the production of beef in the ' 
South is clearly demonstrated by the results set forth in 
the test in question. 

"The test of 1906-7 covered a period of 149 days, during 
which time the average ration consumed was between 8 
and 9 pounds of concentrates, from 25 to 39 pounds of 
silage and about 2 pounds of dry stover or hay. It was 
found advisable to feed the small amount of dry food indi- 
cated to overcome the laxative tendencies of the silage, 
but it was surprising to find what a very small amount 
of dry food accomplished this end. 

Waste of Roughness. — "As in previous tests, there was 
no silage wasted. The percentage of roughness wasted in 
the form of stover varied from 30.1 to 44.1 per cent, of 
the total amount fed. With the hay this varied from 1.7 
to 4.5 per cent. For some reason some of the groups did 
not eat the hay nearly as well as the others. These re- 
sults would indicate, roughly speaking, that from 3 to 4 
per cent, of the hay ordinarily fed would be wasted, and at 
least one-third of the stover. These figures but emphasize 
again the great advantage of silage, which owing to its 
ease of mastication, palatability and pleasant aroma, when 
properly made, provides a most inviting form of roughness 
for cattle. 



42 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 

Shrinking of Silage-fed Cattle. — "It has generally been 
said that cattle fed on silage as the principal roughness 
would lose very materially in live weight when shipped 
long distances. The cattle in this test were shipped to 
Jersey City under the usual conditions, the shrinkage per 
group varying from 197 to 213 pounds. There was little 
to choose between the groups in the actual loss observed. 
The actual loss per individual amounted to only 41.2 
pounds, which is a comparatively slight shrinkage with 
any lot of cattle shipped such a long distance. In fact, 
practical shippers and handlers in this State figure the 
average shrinkage to Jersey City at from 60 to 76 pounds. 

"There does not seem to' be any justification, therefore, 
for claiming that silage fed cattle will drift more than 
cattle fed in other ways. When these cattle were sent 
to Jersey City a representative of the Station who accom- 
panied them found the buyers much prejudiced against 
cattle from the South, stating that they did not kill out 
well, and that the meat was of a dark color, and the bone 
very hard. Though these cattle presented as good an ap- 
pearance as many of the corn fed animals shipped from 
the West and on sale at the same time, the buyers per- 
sisted in discriminating against them because of the belief 
that silage fed cattle would not kill out advantageously 
or make a first-class quality of beef. The cattle followed 
through the slaughter pens, however, killed out as well 
and better in many instances than the corn fed cattle 
from the West, and the meat was of superior quality, the 
fat and lean being better blended, and the color particu- 
larly good. This lot of cattle dressed out 56.9 per cent., 
which is very creditable, considering that they were ordi- 
nary grade, and fed but 150 days on a ration which has 
been regarded as eminently unsatisfactory for feeding 
beef cattle to a finish. These figures seem to amply 
justify the claim that silage is a most satisfactory rough- 
ness for beef cattle, and that animals fed on it will ship 
well, kill well and produce meat of fine quality. And 
these conclusions seem justified even in the face of com- 
petition with western corn fed cattle. 

"The efficiency of silage as a valuable food for Southern 
stockmen when fed under the conditions prevailing in this 
test needs no further vindication in the light of the facts 
here set forth, and should do much to encourage the pro- 
duction of beef in sections where the natural conditions 
by reason of the insufficiency of grass are supposed to be 
a barrier to this phase of animal industry. 

Silage Good for Stockers. — "Experiments were also con- 



RESULTS OF 1905-6 AND 1906-7. 43 

ducted for two years with the object of ascertaining which 
was the best rations to feed to animals which it. is desired 
to maintain as cheaply as possible and still keep in a 
growing, vigorous condition throughout the winter. It is 
naturally essential that the rations be not fattening in 
nature or the animals will <irift much worse when put on 
grass, but it seems very desirable that some grains should 
be secured rather than ' -^ed the animals very considerable 
quantities of expensive foods, as is now often the case, 
and have them actually lose in live weight rather than 
make gains during the vvinter season. It has generally 
been held that silage alone could not make a satisfactory 
winter ration for stockers, and so this point has been 
carefully investigated in the present experiment. It has 
generally been held that cattle fed a watery succulent 
ration in the winter would drift very badly when placed 
on grass. This matter will be discussed under the appro- 
priate heading, as the results obtained this year are par- 
ticularly encouraging and in a matter of economy favor 
silage quite markedly. 

Summary Results of 1905-6 and 1906-7. — "In conclusion, 
a summary of the results of feeding 124 head of cattle is 
presented. Sixty-eight of these cattle were fed to a finish 
in the stall, and fifty-six were carried through as stockers 
and finished on grass. The average of the results obtained 
with such a large number of cattle should be fairly 
reliable. The figures for both years correspond quite 
closely and show straight silage, or silage and grain to be 
the most economical ration for use with stockers in the 
winter. Moreover very much larger profits can be secured 
from handling stockers with the price of foodstuffs as 
charged in this report than can be anticipated from stall 
feeding. This does not mean that stall feeding can not be 
practiced in some sections with advantage where grass is 
at a premium or unavailable. It is proper to reiterate 
that while the cost of finishing in the stall is practically 
twice as much per pound of gain as on grass that the 
figures are presented in an unfavorable light to the stall 
finished cattle. These figures also seem to justify the fact 
that cattle fed on silage yield a superior quality of beef, 
do not drift materially when shipped long distances to 
market, will kill out a good percentage of dressed meat as 
compared with animals finished in the west on corn. 
These results also show that on a margin of $1.00 and 
without taking into consideration the value of the manure 
or the cost of labor, stall feeding can be practiced in 
many sections advantageously even when the animals are 



44 SILAGE IN BEEP PRODUCTION. 

charged the highest market prices for the foodstuffs util- 
ized. On the other hand, cattle handled as stockers will 
produce a considerable quantity of manure and may be 
made to consume cheap forms of roughness made on the 
farm, will make large profits on a margin of 50 cents, and 
will even make fair profits on a margin of 25 cents when 
the pasture is charged to them at the rate of $1.25 per 
acre. 

"These facts are such as to justify us in recommending 
farmers generally to build silos and utilize silage in their 
winter feeding operations for practically all classes of 
cattle as we believe it can be fed to advantage to calves 
and yearlings and cattle to be finished either in the stall 
or on grass. The construction of a silo is not a costly 
operation and it furnishes food for several months in the 
cheapest and easiest form to handle and convey to live 
stock. It is palatable, easy of digestion and assimilation 
and is highly relished by all classes of live stock. It is 
made from a crop that is more widely cultivated than any 
other in America and solves the difficult problem of securing 
satisfactory substitutes for grass in sections where the 
latter does not thrive well. The results taken all in all 
justify the high value we have placed on silage, and it is 
believed that its extensive utilization will result in revo- 
lutionizing the animal industries of the South." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SILAGE SYSTEM HELPS MAINTAIN 
SOIL FERTILITY. 

When the cattle feeders of this country once thoroughly 
realize that they can profitably feed and raise stock by 
means of the silage system, the great problem of maintain- 
ing and increasing soil fertility will very largely solve 
itself, and exhausted soils will recuperate of their own 
accord. 

This statement is based on certain fundamental facts, 
which Farmer's Bulletin No. 180 covers briefly as follows : 

"When subjected to proper chemical tests or processes 
every substance found on our globe, no matter whether it 
belongs to the mineral, vegetable or animal kingdom, may 
be reduced to single elements, of which we now know 
over seventy. Many of these elements occur but rarely, 
and others are present everywhere in abundance. United 
mostly in comparatively simple combinations of less than 
half a dozen each, these elements make up rocks, soils, 
crops, animals, the atmosphere, water, etc. The crops in 
their growth take some of the elements from the soil in 
which they grow and others from the air. Many elements 
are of no value to crops; a few, viz., 13 or 14, are, on the 
other hand, absolutely necessary to the growth of plants; 
if one or more of these essential elements are lacking or 
present in insufficient quantities in the soil, the plant. can- 
not make a normal growth, no matter in what quantities 
the others may occur, and the yields obtained will be 
decreased as a result." 

The problem of the conservation of soil fertility is 
therefore largely one of maintaining a readily available 
supply of the essential plant elements in the soil. Most of 
these elements occur in abundance in all soils, and there 
are really only about three of them that the farmer need 
seriously consider — nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. 

45 



46 SILAGE SYSTEM MAINTAINS FERTILITY. 

Every time that a crop is grown it robs the soil of a 
valuable portion of these elements. A ton of clover hay 
for instance, takes from the soil $10.55 worth of fertilizer. 
One hundred bushels of corn contains 148 pounds of nitro- 
gen, 23 pounds of phosphorus and 71 pounds of potash, 
worth at present market prices, 15, 12 and 6 cents per 
pound, respectively, or $28.72. That much fertilizer is re- 
moved with every 100-bushel corn crop. Other crops vary 
in proportion. It is clear, therefore, that unless these ele- 
ments are put back into the soil in some way, it will 
produce steadily declining crops and soon become ex- 
hausted or mined out. How to put them back at the least 
expense is our problem, and it is not alone for the benefit 
of future generations; it has a vital bearing on our own 
crop yields. 

At the Illinois Experiment Station, an experiment cov- 
ering 30 years shows the startling effect of continuous 
crop farming: 

"At this station the yield on a typical prairie soil has 
decreased under continuous corn raising from 70 bushels 
to the acre to 27 bushels to the acre during this period, 
while under a system of crop rotation and proper fertiliza- 
tion the yield on a portion of the same field has been 
increased during the same period to 96 bushels per acre. 
These yields are not of a certain year, but averages of 
three-year periods. The 96 bushels was obtained in a three- 
year rotation in which com was followed by oats in which 
clover was sown. The next year clover alone, followed 
by corn again. Stable manure with commercial fertilizers 
was applied to the clover ground to be plowed under for 
corn. The difference in the yields obtained between the 
rotation system where fertility was applied and the 
straight corn cropping without fertility was 69 bushels 
per acre, or over two-and-a-half times that of the system 
of continuous corn raising. A large proportion of this 
difference in yield is clear profit, as the actual expense 
of producing the 96 bushels to the acre was but little 
more than in growing the 27. If the results of these two 



NITROGEN A VALUABLE ELEMENT. 47 

yields were figured down to a nicety, and the value of the 
land determined by the net income, it would he found 
that the well farmed acres would be worth an enormous 
price as compared with a gift of the land that produced 
the smaller yield." 

Barn-yard manure makes splendid fertilizer. It is per- 
haps the most important for soil improvement. The rea- 
son for this is that it supplies nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potash and the decaying organic matter needed. In feed- 
ing oats, corn, wheat or other crops to animals, it is well 
to know that about three-quarters of the phosphorus and 
nitrogen and practically all of the potash go through the 
body and are returned in the solid and liquid manure. It 
is evident that the value or richness of the manure de- 
pends largely on the crops or part of the crops fed to the 
animals. Leguminous crops are rich in nitrogen and phos- 
phorus. Three and one-half tons of clover will contain 
as much phosphorus and 40 pounds more nitrogen than 
100 bushels of corn, i. e., 23 pounds phosphorus and 188 
pounds nitrogen. Any system of farming where grain is 
sold and only stalks and straw retained for feed produces 
manure weak in both nitrogen and phosphorus. These 
elements are divided in the corn plant on the 100-bushel 
basis, about as follows: 

100 lbs. nitrogen in grain and 48 lbs. in the stalk. 
17 lbs. phosphorus in grain and 6 lbs. in the stalk. 
19 lbs. potassium in grain and 52 lbs. in the stalk. 

In other words, two-thirds of the nitrogen, three-fourths 
of the phosphorus and one-fourth of the potassium are 
in the grain or seed and one-third of the nitrogen, one- 
fourth of the phosphorus and three-fourths of the potas- 
sium are in the, stalk or straw. In siloing the corn plant 
the full value of the fertilizer, in both stalk and grain, is 
obtained in the manure. 

The value of manure depends very largely on the way 
in which it is handled. Over half the value is in the liquid 
portion. 

Experiments were conducted at the Ohio Experiment 



48 SILAGE SYSTEM MAINTAINS FERTILITY. 

Station with two lots of steers for six months to ascertain 
the loss through seepage. An earth floor was used for one 
lot and a cement floor for the other lot. Manure was 
weighed and analyzed at the beginning and end of the 
experiments and it was found that that produced on the 
earth floor had lost enough fertilizer through seepage 
during the experiments to have paid half the cost of 
cementing the floor. 

Losses through weathering and leaching are also com- 
mon and should be avoided. Experiments at the same 
station, during 12 years, show that fresh manure produced 
increase in crop yields over yard manure amounting to 
about one-fourth of the total value of the manure. 

Nitrogen is manure's most valuable element measured 
by the cost of replacing it in commercial fertilizer. It 
heats when lying in heaps and the strong ammonia odor, 
due to the combination of the nitrogen in the manure and 
the hydrogen of the moisture of the heap, indicates that 
in time all the nitrogen will escape in the form of am- 
monia gas. It is said that a ton of manure contains about 
10 pounds of nitrogen, worth $1.50 or $2,00, so that this 
less of nitrogen is a serious one. 

An average dairy cow of 1,000 pounds weight, properly 
fed, will throw off $13.00 worth of nitrogen and potash 
a year in her urine. A horse will throw off $18.00 worth. 
Urine has a greater fertilizing value than manure, and 
together they become ideal. 

Every farmer can have his own manure factory by 
keeping live stock. Naturally, the more live stock the 
farm can keep, the more manure he will have for return- 
ing to the soil. 

The silo here comes in as a material aid, and with its 
adoption it is possible to keep at least twice as much 
live stock on a given area of land. Pasturing cattle is 
becoming too expensive a method. High priced lands can 
be used to better advantage by growing the feeding crop 
and siloing it, without any waste, to be preserved and fed 
fresh and green the year around. This method, as we 



EXAMPLE OF A FINISHED PRODUCT. 49 

have saidj will insure the maximum supply of splendid 
fertilizing material. 

But the silo does more — it converts the farm into a 
factory as it were — i. e., it will become a creator of a 
finished or more nearly finished product instead of being 
the producer of a mere raw material. The effect will be 
to raise proportionately the price of every commodity 
offered for sale. 

"On the ordinary farm which markets cereal crops 
only a part is ever sufficiently fertile to return a profit. 
The other acres must be put by to regain fertility and are 
so much dead capital while they are made ready for a 
further effort. Not so with a farm devoted to beef as the 
market crop. Every acre of it may be seen producing 
year after year in an increasing ratio, and occasional 
crops such as potatoes — which while they need a rich soil 
for their development yet draw but lightly on fertility 
and are very useful as cleaning crops — will yield bumper 
profits in cash." 

This statement applies with full force to what is an- 
other very desirable attribute of the silo and the silage 
system — that it will s6 increase the live stock of the farm 
that many of the products heretofore sold in a raw state, 
and which contain, and therefore carry away most of the 
fertility of the farm, may now be fed at home. 

A few examples will best serve to illustrate this state- 
ment: 

The fertilizing constituents in a ton of clover hay, as 
above stated, amount nominally to $10.55. This would 
mean then that every time the farmer sells a ton of clover 
hay, he sells $10.55 worth of fertility. So much fertility 
has gone from the farm forever. It would most certainly 
be wise to feed the clover at home as a balance to the 
silage ration, thereby keeping the fertility on the farm, 
and making at the same time some finished product, as 
cream, milk, butter, cheese or beef, the sale of which will 
not carry away from the farm any great amount of 
fertility. 

4 



50 SILAGE SYSTEM MAINTAINS FERTILITY. 

The sale of a ton of butter, which is perhaps the best 
example of a finished or manufactured product from the 
farm, contains but 27 cents' worth of fertility. Why then 
is it not the part of wisdom to feed the clover hay, which 
contains as above noted, $10.55 in fertility; timothy hay, 
19.05; corn, $7.72; and oats, $10.27, and convert the whole 
into a finished product — butter, which when sold takes 
but 27 cents in fertility away with it? 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

Before taking up for consideration the more impor- 
tant type of silo construction, it will be well to explain 
briefly a few fundamental principles in regard to the 
building of silos which are common to all types of silo 
structures. When the farmer understands these principles 
thoroughly, he will be able to avoid serious mistakes in 
building his silo and will be less bound by specific direc- 
tions, that may not always exactly suit his conditions, 
than would otherwise be the case. What is stated in the 
following in a few words is in many cases the result of 
dearly-bought experiences of pioneers in siloing; many 
points may seem self-evident now, which were not under- 
stood or appreciated until mistakes had been made and 
a full knowledge had been accumulated as to the condi- 
tions under which perfect silage can be secured. 

General Requirements for Silo Structures, 

1. The silo must be air-tight. We have seen that the 
process of silage making is largely a series of fermenta- 
tion processes. Bacteria (small plants or germs, which 
are found practically everywhere) pass into the silo with 
the corn or the siloed fodder, and, after a short time, 
begin to grow and multiply in it, favored by the presence 
of air and an abundance 6f feed materials in the fodder. 
The more air at the disposal of the bacteria, the further 
the fermentation process will progress. If a supply of air 
is admitted to the silo from the outside, the bacteria will 
have a chance to continue to grow, and more fodder will 
therefore be wasted. If a large amount of air be ad- 
mitted, as is usually the case with the top layer of silage, 

51 



52 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

the fermentation process will be _ more far-reaching than 
is usually the case in the lower layers of the silo. Putre- 
factive bacteria will then continue the work of the 
acid bacteria, and the result will be rotten silage. If 
no further supply of air is at hand, except' what remains 
in the interstices between the siloed fodder, the bacteria 
will gradually die out, or only such forms will survive 
as are able to grow in the absence of air. 

Another view of the cause of the changes occurring 
in siloed fodder has been put forw^ard lately, viz., that 
these are due not to bacteria, but to "intramolecular res- 
piration" in the plant tissue, that is due to a natural 
dying-off of the life substance of the plan,t cells. From a 
practical point of view it does not make any difference 
whether the one or the other explanation is correct. The 
facts are with us, that if much air is admitted into the 
silo, through cracks in the wall or through loose packing 
of the siloed mass, considerable losses of food substances 
will take place, first, because the processes of decomposi- 
tion are then allowed to go beyond the point necessary to 
bring about the changes by which the silage differs from 
green fodder, and, second, because the decomposition will 
cause more or less of the fodder to spoil or mold. 

2. The silo must be deep. Depth is essential in build- 
ing a silo, so as to have the siloed fodder under consider- 
able pressure, which will cause it to pack well and leave 
as little air as possible in the interstices between the cut 
fodder, thus reducing the losses of food materials to a 
minimum. The early silos built in this country or abroad 
were at fault in this respect; they were shallow struc- 
tures, not over 12-15 ft. perhaps, and were longer than they 
were deep. Experience showed that it was necessary to 
weight heavily the siloed fodder placed in these silos, in 
order to avoid getting a large amount of moldy silage. 
In our modern silos no weighting is necessary, since the 
material placed in the silo is sufficiently heavy from the 
great depth of it to largely exclude the air in the siloed 
fodder and thus secure a good quality of silage. In case 



SIZE OF THE SILO. 53 

of deep silos the loss from spoiled silage on the top is 
smaller in proportion to the whole amount of silage 
stored; there is also less surface in proportion to the 
silage stored, hence a smaller loss occurs while the silage 
is being fed out, and since the silage is more closely 
packed, less air is admitted from the top. As the silage 
packs better in a deep silo than in a shallow one, the former 
kind of silos will hold more silage per cubic foot than the 
latter; this is plainly seen from the figures given in the 
table on page 56. Silos built during late years have gen- 
erally been over thirty feet deep, and many are forty feet 
deep or more. 

3. The silo must have smooth, perpendicular walls, 
which will allow the mass to settle without forming 
cavities along the walls. In a deep silo the fodder will 
settle several feet during the first few days after filling. 
Any unevenness in the wall will prevent the mass from 
settling uniformly, and air spaces in the mass thus formed 
will cause the surrounding silage to spoil. 

4. The walls of the silo must be rigid and very strong, 
so as not to spring when the siloed fodder settles. The 
lateral (outward) pressure of cut fodder corn when set- 
tling at the time of filling is considerable, and increases 
with the depth of the silage at the rate of about eleven 
pounds per square foot of depth. At a depth of 20 feet 
there is, therefore, an outward pressure of 330 pounds, etc. 
In case of a 16-foot square silo where* the sill is 30 feet 
below the top of the silage the side pressure on the lower 
foot of the wall would be about 16x330, or 5,280 pounds. 

It is because of this great pressure that it is so diffi- 
cult to make large rectangular silos deep enough to be 
economical, and it is because the walls of rectangular 
silos always spring more or less under the pressure of the 
silage that this seldom keeps as well in them as it does in 
those whose walls cannot spring. 

As the silage in the lower part of the silo continues 
to settle, the stronger outward pressure there spreads 
the walls more than higher up and the result is the wall 



54 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

may be actually forced away from the silage so that air 
may enter from above; and even if this does not occur 
the pressure against the sides will be so much lessened 
above by the greater spreading below that if the walls are 
at all open, air will more readily enter through them. 

In the round wooden silos every board acts as a hoop 
and as the wood stretches but little lengthwise there can 
be but little spreading of such walls, and in the case of 
stave silos the iron hoops prevent any spreading, and it is 
on account of these facts that the round silo is rapidly 
replacing every other form. 

After the silage has once settled, there is no lateral 
pressure in the silo; cases are on record w^here a filled 
silo has burned down to the ground with the silage re- 
maining practically intact as a tall stack. 

Other points of importance in silo building which do 
not apply to all kinds of silos, will be considered when 
we come to describe different kinds of silo structures. 
Several questions present themselves at this point for 
consideration, viz., how large a silo shall be built, where 
it is to be located, and what form of silo is preferable 
under different conditions? 

On the Size of Silo Required. 

In planning a silo the first point to be decided is how 
large it shall be made. We will suppose that a farmer 
has a herd of twenty-five cows, to which he wishes to feed 
silage during the winter season, say for 180 days. We 
note at this point that silage will not be likely to give 
best results with milch cows, or with any other class of 
farm animals, when it furnishes the entire portion of the 
dry matter of the feed ration. As a rule, it will not be 
well to feed over forty pounds of silage daily per head. 
If this quantity be fed daily, on an average for a season 
of 180 days, we have for the twenty-five cows 180,000 
pounds, or ninety tons. On account of the fermentation 
processes taking place in the silo, we have seen that 
there is an unavoidable loss of food materials during the 



SIZE OF THE SILO. 5& 

siloing period, amounting to, perhaps, 10 per cent; we 
must, therefore, put more than the quantity given into 
the silo. If ninety tons of silage is wanted, about one 
hundred tons of fodder corn must be placed in the silo; 
we figure, therefore, that we shall need about 4 tons of 
silage per head for the winter, but, perhaps 5 tons per 
head would be a safer calculation, and provide for some 
increase in the size of the herd. 

Corn silage will weigh from thirty pounds, or less, to 
toward fifty pounds per cubic foot, according to the depth 
in the silo from which it is taken, and the amount of 
moisture which it contains. We may take forty pounds 
as an average weight of a cubic foot of corn silage. One 
ton of silage will, accordingly, take up fifty cubic feet; 
and 100 tons, 5,000 cubic feet. If a rectangular one-hun- 
dred-ton silo is to be built, say 12x14 feet, it must then 
have a height of 30 feet. If a square silq is wanted, it 
might be given dimensions 12x12x35 feet, or 13x13x30 feet; 
if a circular silo the following dimensions will be about 
right: Diameter, 14 feet; height of silo, 30 feet, etc. In 
the same way, a silo holding 200 tons of corn or clover 
silage may be built of the dimensions 16x24x26 feet^ 
20x20x25 feet, or if round, diameter, 18 feet, height 37 
feet, etc. 

Since the capacity of round silos is not as readily com- 
puted as in case of a rectangular silo, we give on follow- 
ing page a table which- shows at a glance the approximate 
number of tons of silage that a round silo, of a diameter 
from 8 to 20 feet, and 20 feet to 50 feet deep, will hold. 

The table on page 57 shows readily how much silage 
is required to keep eight to forty-five cows for six months, 
feeding them 40 pounds a day, and the dimensions of cir- 
cular silos as well as the area of land required to furnish 
the different amounts of feed given, computed at 15 ton» 
per acre. The amount of silage given in the table refers 
to the number of tons in the silo after all shrinkage ha» 
occurred; as the condition of the corn as placed in the 
silo differs considerably, these figures may vary in differ- 



56 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



CAPACITY OF ROUND SILOS. 

Approximate Capacity of Cylindrical Silos, fob 
Well-Matured Corn Silage, in Tons. 



^ Height of 
Silo inside 






Inside diameter of Silo, 


Feet. 


Feet. 


S 


10 I 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


19 


20 


20 . 


18 
19 
20 
22 
23 
24 
25 
27 
28 
30 
31 
33 
35 
33 
37 
39 
40 
41 
43 
45 
47 


30 
31 
33 

34 
36 
3S 

40 
42 
44 
46 
48 
50 
53 
55 
58 
61 
64 
67 
70 
73 
75 

80 


36 
39 
41 
43 
45 
48 
50 
52 
54 
56 
58 
62 
66 
69 
73 
77 
82 
86 
89 
95 
98 
101 
104 


45 

48 

50 

52 

55 

57 

60 

63 

66 

70 

75 

79 

84 

89 

94 

100 

105 

109 

114 

lis 

121 
125 
128 
132 
135 


51 

54 

57 

60 

64 

68 

71 

75 

79 

83 

86 

90 

94 

98 

• 102 

103 

110 

115 

119 

124 

129 

134 

139 

144 

150 


60 

63 

66 

70 

73 

77 

80 

85 

90 

f5 

100 

105 

110 

115 

120 

125 

130 

135 

140 

145 

150 

155 

160 

166 

171 

176 

182 


66 

71 

76 

80 

85 

90 

94 

98 

102 

108 

110 

114 

118 

123 

131 

136 

139 

144 

151 

157 

165 

170 

176 

181 

188 

195 

200 


87 
91 
95 
99 
103 
107 
111 
116 
120 
125 
131 
137 
143 
149 
155 
161 
167 
173 
180 
187 
193 
201 
207 
215 
222 
229 
233 


104 
110 
116 
121 
126 
132 
136 
141 
148 
155 
162 
169 
176 
183 
190 
197 
204 
211 
218 
225 
233 
240 
247 
254 
261 


120 


199 




21 




22 

23 




24 




25 


125' 129 
130 137 


145 


26 


1,55 


27 


136 
140 
145 
150 
156 
162 


145 
152 
160 
168 
176 
184 


161 


28 


170 


29 


177 


30 


1-S5 


31 


193 


33 


^00 


33 


169 192 
175 200 
183 209 

1901 218 


208 


34 


•:>17 


35 


??6 


35. . ... 


5>35 


37 


200 
212 
220 
228 
236 
244 
252 
261 
269 
377 
285 
293 
301 
310 


227 
236 
245 
255 
362 
270 
280 
289 
298 
307 
316 
325 
334 
344 


^45 


38 


256 


39 


267 


40 


^79 


41 


290 


42 


300 


43 


310 


44 


3;^0 


45 


330 


46 


340 


47 


350 


48 


361 


49 


371 


50 


382 



ent years, or with different crops of corn, and should not 
be interpreted too strictly; the manner of filling the silo 
will also determine how much corn the silo will hold; if 
the silo is filled with well-matured corn, and after this 
has settled for a couple of days, filled up again, it will 
hold at least ten per cent, more silage than when it ^s 
filled rapidly and not refilled after settling. To the per- 
son about to fill a silo for the first time, it is suggested 
that it requires a "good crop" to yield 15 tons per acre. 



ON THE FORM OF SILOS. 



57 



TABLE SHOWING REQUIRED ACREAGE AIMD STOCK FEEDING 
CAPACITY FOR SILOS OF VARIOUS SIZES. 



Dimensions. 


Capacity in Tons. 


Acres to Fill. 
15 Tons to Acre. 


Cows it will keep 

6 months, 40 lbs. 

feed per day. 


10x20 


30 


3. 


8 


10x24 


36 


3. 


10 


10x28 


44 


3. 


11 


10x32 


53 


3.4 


14 


10x40 


75 


4.(5 


19 


12x20 


45 


3. 


11 


12x24 


55 • 


8.2 


13 


12x28 


66 


4.1 


15 


12 X 3.2 


84 


5. 


20 


12x40 


121 


7.3 


27 


14x20 


60 


4.2 


15 


14x22 


66 


4.5 


17 


14x24 


73 


4.7 


19 


14x28 


90 


5.6 


22 


14 X 32 


110 


6.7 


27 


14x40 


150 


9.2 


87 


16x24 


95 


6.2 


24 


16x28 


111 


7.2 


29 


16x32 


130 


8.7 


35 


16x40 


180 


12. 


49 


18X30 


150 


10.2 


41 


18x36 


190 


13. 


50 


18x40 


229 


15.3 


62 


18 x 46 


277 


18.8 


77 


20x30 


185 


12.5 


50 


20x40 


279 


18.8 


77 


20 X 50 


382 


25.5 


104 


20x60 


500 


32. 


136 



and as a "little too much is about right," be sure to plant 
enough to fill the silo full, being guided by the condition 
of soil, etc., under his control. 



On the Form of Silos. 

The first kind of silos built, in this country or abroad, 
were simply holes or pits in the ground, into which the 
fodder was dumped, and the pit was then covered with a 
layer of dirt and, sometimes at least, weighted with 
planks and stones. Then, when it was found that a large 
proportion of the feed would spoil by this crude method, 
separate silo structures were built, first of stone, and later 
on, of wood, brick or cement. As previously stated, the 



58 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

first separate silos built were rectangular, shallow struc- 
tures, with a door opening at one end. The silos of the 
French pioneer siloist, August Goffart, were about 16 feet 
high and 40x16 feet at the bottom. Another French silo 
built about fifty years ago, was 206x21 1/^ feet and 15 feet 
deep, holding nearly 1,500 tons of silage. Silos of a similar 
type, but of smaller dimensions, were built in this country 
in the early stages of silo building. Experience has taught 
siloists that it was necessary to weight the fodder heavily 
in these silos, in order to avoid the spoiling of large 
quantities of silage. In Goffart's silos, boards were thus 
placed on top of the siloed fodder, and the mass was 
weighted at the rate of one hundred pounds per square 
foot. 

It was found, however, after some time, that this heavy 
weighing could be dispensed with by making the silos 
deep, and gradually the deep silos came more and more 
into use. These silos were first built in this country in 
the latter part of the eighties; at the present time none 
but silos at least twenty to twenty-four feet deep are built, 
no matter of what form or material they are made, and 
most silos built are at least twenty-four to thirty feet 
deep, or more. 

Since 1892 the cylindrical form of silos has become 
more and more general. These silos have the advantage 
over all other kinds in point of cost and convenience, as 
well as quality of the silage obtained. We shall, later on, 
have an occasion to refer to the relative cost of the 
various forms of silos, and shall here only mention a few 
points in favor of the round silos. 

1. Round silos can be built cheaper than square ones, 
because it takes less lumber per cubic foot capacity, and 
because lighter material may be used in their construc- 
tion. The sills and studdings here do no work except to 
support the roof, since the lining acts as a hoop to prevent 
spreading of the walls. 

2. One of the essentials in silo building is that there 
shall be a minimum of surface and wall exposure of the 



DIAMETER AND DEPTH OF THE SILO. 59 

silage, as both the cost and the danger from losses through 
spoiling are thereby reduced. The round silos are superior 
to all other forms in regard to this point, as will be 
readily seen from an example: A rectangular silo, 16x 
32x24 feet, has the same number of square feet of wall 
surface as a square silo, 24x24 feet, and of the same 
depth, or as a circular silo 30 feet in diameter and of the 
same depth; but these silos will hold about the following 
quantities of silage: Rectangular silo, 246 tons, square 
silo, 276 tons; circular silo, 338 tons. Less lumber will, 
therefore, be needed to hold a certain quantity of silage 
in case of square silos than in case of rectangular ones, 
and less for cylindrical silos than for square ones, the 
cylindrical form being, therefore, the most economical of 
the three types. 

3. Silage of all kinds will usually begin to spoil after 
a few days, if left exposed to the air; hence the necessity 
of considering the extent of surface exposure of silage in 
the silo while it is being fed out. In a deep silo there is 
less silage exposed to the surface layer in proportion to 
the contents than in a shallow one. Experience has taught 
us that if silage is fed down at a rate slower than 1.2 
inches daily, molding is liable to set in. About two inches 
of the top layer of the silage should be fed out daily 
during cold weather in order to prevent the silage from 
spoiling; in warm weather about three inches must be 
taken off daily; if a deeper layer of silage can be fed off 
daily, there will be less waste of food materials; some 
farmers thus plan to feed off 5 or 6 inches of silage daily. 
The form of the silo must therefore be planned, according 
to the size of the herd, with special reference to this 
point. Professor King estimates that there should be a 
feeding surface in the silo of about five square feet per 
cow in the herd; a herd of thirty cows will then require 
150 square feet of feeding surface, or the inside diameter 
of the silo should be 14 feet; for a herd of forty cows a 
silo with a diameter of 16 feet will be required; for fifty 
cows, a diameter of 18 feet; for one hundred cows, a 
diameter of 25^/4 feet, etc. 



60 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



RELATION OF HORIZONTAL FEEDING AREA AND NUM- 
BER OF COWS KEPT, FOR SILOS 24 AND 30 FEET DEEP. 





FEED FOB 240 DAYS. 


FEED FOB 


180 DAYS. 


NO 


Silo 


Silo 


Silo 


Silo 




24 feet deep. 


30 feet deep. 


24 feet deep. 


30 feet deep. 


OF 


Rate 


Rate 


Rate 


Rate 


COWS. 


1.2 in. daily. 


1.5 in. daily. 


1.6 in, daily. 


2 in, daily. 




Tons. 


Inside 
diam. 


Tons. 


Inside 
diam. 


Tons. 


Inside 
diam. 


Tons. 


Inside 
diam. 






Feet. 




Feet. 




Feet. 




Feet. 


10... 


48 


12 


48 


10 


36 


10 


36 


9 


15... 


72 


15 


72 


12 


54 


13 


54 


11 


20... 


96 


17 


96 


14 


72 


15 


72 


12 


25.. . 


120 


19 


120 


16 


90 


16 


90 


14 


30.. . 


144 


21 


144 


18 


108 


18 


108 


15 


35... 


168 


22 


168 


19 


126 


19 


126 


16 


40... 


192 


24 


192 


20 


144 


21 


144 


18 


45... 


216 


26 


216 


21 


162 


22 


162 


19 


50... 


240 


27 


240. 


23 


180 


23 


180 


20 


60.. . 


288 


29 


288 


25 


' 216 


25 


216 


21 


70... 


386 


32 


336 


27 


252 


27 


252 


23 


80... 


384 


34 


384 


29 


288 


29 


288 


25 


90... 


432 


36 


432 


30 


324 


31 


324 


26 


100... 


. 480 


38 


480 


32 


360 


33 


360 


28 



He gives the above tables showing the number of 
cows required to eat 1.2 to 2 inches of silage daily in 
silos 24 to 30 feet deep, assuming that they are fed 40 lbs. 
of silage daily for 180 or 240 days. 

In choosing diameters and depths for silos for par- 
ticular herds, individual needs and conditions must decide 
which is best. It may be said, in general, that for the 
smaller sizes of silos the more shallow ones will be some- 
what cheaper in construction and be more easily filled 
with small powers. For large herds the deeper types are 
best and cheapest. 

One of the most common mistakes made in silo con- 
struction is that of making it too large in diameter for 
the amount of stock to be fed silage. Whenever silage 



THE VARIOUS TYPES OF SILOS. 61 

heats and molds- badly on or below the feeding surface 
heavy loss in feeding value is being sustained, and in such 
cases the herd should be increased so that the losses may 
be prevented by more rapid feeding. (King.) 

Location of the Silo, 

The location of the silo is a matter of great importance, 
which has to be decided upon at the start. The feeding 
of the silage is an every-day job during the whole winter 
and spring, and twice a day at that. Other things being 
equal, the nearest available place is therefore the best. 
The silo should be as handy to get at from the barn as 
possible. The condition of the ground must be considered. 
If the ground is dry outside the barn, the best plan to 
follow is to build the silo there, in connection with the 
barn, going four feet to six feet below the surface, and 
providing for door opening directly into the barn. The 
bottom of the silo should be on or below the level where 
the cattle stand, and, if practicable, the silage should be 
moved out and placed before the cows at a single handling. 
While it is important to have the silo near at hand, it 
should be so located, in case the silage is used for milk 
production, that silage odors do not penetrate the whole 
stable, at milking or x)ther times. Milk is very sensitive 
to odors, and unless care is taken to feed silage after 
milking, and to have pure air, free from silage odor, in 
the stables at the time of jnilking, there will be a silage 
flavor to the milk. This will not. be sufficiently pronounced 
to be noticed by most people, and some people cannot 
notice it at all; but when a person is suspicious, he can 
generally discover it. So far as is known this odor is not 
discernible in either butter or cheese made from silage- 
flavored milk, nor does it seem to affect the keeping quali- 
ties of the milk in any way. 

Different Types of Silo Structures. 

Silos may be built of wood, stone, brick or cement, or 
partly of one and partly of another of these materials. 
Wooden silos may be built of several layers of thin boards 



62 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

nailed to uprights, or of single planks (staves), or may be 
plastered inside. The material used will largely he de- 
termined by local conditions; where lumber is cheap, and 
stone high, wooden silos will generally be built; where 
the opposite is true, stone or brick silos will have the 
advantage in point of cheapness, while concrete silos are 
likely to be preferred where great permanency is desired 
or where cobble-stones are at hand in abundance, and 
lumber or stone are hard to get at a reasonable cost. So 
far as the quality of the silage made in any of these kinds of 
silos is concerned:, there is no difference wiien the silos 
are properly built. The longevity of stone and concrete 
silos is usually greater than that of. wooden silos, since 
the latter are more easily attacked by the silage juices 
and are apt to decay in places after a number of years, 
unless special precautions are taken to preserve them. A 
well-built and well-cared-for wooden silo should, however, 
last almost indefinitely. 

As regards the form of the silo, it may be built in 
rectangular form, square, octagon or round. We have 
already seen that the most economical of these is ordi- 
narily the round form, both because in such silos there is 
less wall space per cubic unit of capacity, and in case of 
wooden round silos, lighter material can be used in their 
construction. The only place where silos of square or 
rectangular form are built now is inside of barns, where 
they fit in better than a round structure. We shall later 
on give directions for building silos inside of a barn, but 
shall now go over to a discussion of the various forms of 
round silos that are apt to be met with. More round 
wooden silos have been built during late years in this 
country than of all other kinds of silos combined, and this 
type of silo, either built of uprights lined inside and out- 
side with two layers of half-inch boards, or of one thick- 
ness of staves, will doubtless be the main silo type of the 
future; hence we shall give full information as to their 
building, and shall then briefly speak of the other forms 
mentioned which may be considered preferable in excep- 
tional cases. 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 63 

Round Wooden Silos. 

Round wooden silos were first described, and their use 
advocated, in Bulletin No, 28, issued by the Wisconsin 
Station in July, 1891, and hence have come to be known 
as "Wisconsin Silos." The first detailed and illustrated 
description of this type of silo was published in this 
bulletin; since that time it has been described ^ several 
bulletins and reports issued by the station mentioned, and 
in numerous publications from other experimental stations. 
All writers who have discussed the question of silo con- 
struction, agree that this form of silo is admirable, and 
the best that can be put up where a durable, first-class 
silo of a moderate cost is wanted. This type, and the one 
to be described in the following, the stave silo, are practi- 
cally the only kind of wooden silos that have been built 
in this country during late years, except where unusual 
conditions have prevailed, that would make some other 
kind of silo structure preferable. 

The following description of the Wisconsin silo is from 
the pen of Prof. King, the originator of this type of silo, 
as published in Bulletin No. 83 of the Wisconsin Station 
(dated May, 1900). 

The Foundation. — There should be a good, substantial 
masonry foundation for all forms of wood silos, and the 
woodwork should everywhere be at least 12 inches above 
the earth, to prevent decay from dampness. There are 
few conditions where it will not be desirable to have the 
bottom of the silo 3 feet or more below the feeding floor 
of the stable, and this will require not less than 4 to 6 
feet of stone, brick, or concrete wall. For a silo 30 feet 
deep the foundation wall of stone should be 1.5 to 2 feet 
thick. 

The inside of the foundation wall may be made flush 
with the woodwork above, or nearly so, as represented in 
Fig. 1, or the building may stand in the ordinary way, 
flush with the outside of the stone wall, as represented in 
Fig. 2. In both cases the wall should be finished sloping 
as shown in the drawings. 



64 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 




1 I I I I I 1 I I 1 I 
10 FEET. 



Fig. 1. Showing method of placing all-wood silos on stone 
foundations, with pit dug out to increase depth. 



THE STONE FOUNDATION. 65 

So far as the keeping of the silage is concerned it 
makes little difference which of these types of construc- 
tion is adopted. The outward pressure on the silo wall 
is greater where the wall juts into the silo, but the wall 
is better protected against the weather. Where the pro- 
jecting wall is outside, the silo has a greater capacity, but 
there is a strong tendency for the wall to crack and 
allow rain to penetrate it. Where this plan is followed it 
is important to finish the sloping surface with cement, or 
to shingle it, to keep out the water. 

Bottom of the Silo. — After the silo has been completed 
the ground forming the bottom should be thoroughly 
tamped so as to be solid, and then covered with two or 
three inches of good concrete made of 1 of cement to 3 
or 4 of sand or gravel. The amount of silage which will 
spoil on a hard clay floor will not be large, but enough to 
pay a good interest on the money invested in the cement 
floor. If the bottom of the silo is in dry sand or gravel 
the cement bottom is imperative to shut out the soil air. 

Tying the Top of the Stone Wall. — In case the wood 
portion of the silo rises 24 or more feet above the stone 
work, and the diameter is more than 18 feet, it will be 
prudent to stay the top of the wall in some way. 

If the woodv/ork rises from the outer edge of the wall, 
then building the wall up with cement so as to cover the 
sill and lining as represented in Figs. 3 and 4 will give 
the needed strength, because the woodwork will act as a 
hoop; but if the silo stands at the inner face of the wall, 
it will be set to la,y pieces of iron rod in the wall near the 
top to act as a hoop. 

Where the stone portion of the silo is high enough to 
need a door, it is best to leave enough wall between the 
top and the sill to allow a tie rod of iron to be bedded in 
this portion. So, too, the lower door in the woodwork of 
the silo should have a full foot in width below it of lining 
and siding uncut to act as a hoop, where the pressure is 
strongest. 

5 



66 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 




Fig. 2. SJiowing an all-wood round silo on stone foundation. 
H represents a method of sawing hoards for the conical 
roof. 



ILLUSTRATION. 



67 




Fig, 3, Showing method of construction for ventilating the 
spaces between the studding in all-wood and lathed-and- 
plastered silos. 



68 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



Forming the Sill. — The sill in the all-wood silo may 
be made of a single 2x4 cut in 2-foot lengths, with the 
ends beveled so that they may be toe-nailed together to 
form circle (Fig. 5). 

Setting the Studding. — The studding of the all-wood 
round silo need not be larger than 2x4 unless the diam- 




Fig, 4. Showing construction of all-wood silo, and connec- 
tion with wall, flush with outside. 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 



69 



eter is to exceed 30 feet, but they should be set as close 
together as one foot from center to center, as represented 
in Fig. 6. This number of studs is not required for 
strength but they are needed in order to bring the two 
layers of lining very close together, so as to press the 
paper closely and prevent air from entering where the 
paper laps. 

Where studding longer than 20 feet are needed, short 
lengths may be lapped one foot and simply spiked together 
before they are set in place on the wall. This will be 
cheaper than to pay the higher price for long lengths. 
All studding should be given the exact length desired 
before putting them in place. 




Fig, 5, Showing method of making the sill of round wood 
silos. 



70 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



To stay the studding a post should be set in the ground 
in the center of the silo long enough to reach about five 
feet above the sill, and to this stays may be nailed to 
hold in place the alternate studs until the lower 5 feet 'of 
out^de sheeting has been put on. The studs should be 
set first at the angles formed in the sill and carefully 
stayed and plumbed on the side toward the center. When 
a number of these have been set they should be tied 
together by bending a strip of half-inch sheeting around 
the outside ^ as high up as a man can reach, taking care 
to plumb each stud on the side before nailing. When the 




Fig. 6, Showing the plan of studding for the all-wood, Ijnclc- 
lined or lathed- and-plastered silo. 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 



71 



alternate studs have been set in this way the balance may 
be placed and toe-nailed to the sill and stayed to the rib, 
first plumbing them sideways and toward the center. 

Setting Studding for Doors. — On the side of the silo 
where the doors are to be placed the studding should be 



■ 



^//i^///vy//<^//</Y//i^-77^. 




' 


. ® 


.■ 


.. 




♦ ^ 


» 















& 


. 


4 


* 




• 


* 


• 


• 














• 


•■ 


• 


• 






• 


• 


• 


. 




• 


• 


«' 





• 


• 


• 






k 


• 


• 


• 




• 


• 




• 




• 


• 






• 


-, 


, 


. 




, 


, 


« 


















• 


• 




• 


;• 


• 





« 



Fig, 7. Showing the construction of the door for the all- 
wood silo. 



72 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

set double and the distance apart to give the desired 
width. A stud should be set between the two door studs 
as though no door were to be there, and the doors cut out 
at the places desired afterwards. The construction of the 
door is represented in Fig. 7. 

The doors are usually made about 2 feet wide and 
from 2% to 3 feet high, and placed one above the other 
at suitable distances apart. It has been suggested that to 
insure security a strip of tar paper should be placed the 
entire length of the silo on the inside over the doors. 

Silo Sheeting and Siding. — The character of the siding 
a7 d sheeting will vary considerably according to condi- 
tions and the size of the silo. 

Where the diameter of the silo is less than 18 feet in- 
side and not much attention need be paid to frost, a single 
layer of beveled siding, rabbetted on the inside of the 
thick edge, deep enough to receive the thin edge of the 
board below, will be all that is absolutely necessary on 
the outside for strength and protection' against weather. 
This statement is made on the supposition that the lining 
is made of two layers of fencing split in two, the three 
layers constituting the hoops. 

If the silo is larger than 18 feet inside diameter, there 
should be a layer of half -inch sheeting outside, under the 
siding. 

if basswood is used for siding, care should be taken 
to paint it at once, otherwise it will warp badly if it gets 
wet before painting. 

In applying the sheeting begin at the bottom, carrying 
the work upward until staging is needed, following this 
at once with the siding. Two 8-penny nails should be used 
in each board in every stud, and to prevent the walls from 
getting "out of round" the succeeding course of boards 
should begin on the next stud, thus making the ends of 
the boards break joints. 

When the stagings are put up, new stays should be 
tacked to the studs above, taking care to plumb each one 
from side to side; the siding itself will bring them into 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 



73 



place and keep them plumb the other way, if care is 
taken to start new courses as described above. 

Forming the Plate.— When the last staging is up the 
plate should be formed by spiking 2x4's cut in two-foot 
lengths, in the manner of sill, and as represented in Fig. 
8, down upon the tops of the studs, using two courses, 
making the second break joints with the first. 

The Lining of the Wooden Silo. — There are several 
ways of making a good lining for the all-wood round silo, 
but whichever method is adopted it must be kept in mind 
tJiat there are two very important ends to be secured with 




Fig. 8, Showing construction of conical roof of round silo, 
where rafters are not used. The outer circle is the lower 
edge of the roof. 



74 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

a certainty. These are (1) a lining which shall be and 
remain strictly air-tight, (2) a lining which will be reason- 
ably permanent. 

All Wood Lining of 4-inch Flooring. — If one is willing 
to permit a loss of 10 to 12 per. cent, of the silage by 
heating, then a lining of tongued and grooved ordinary 
4-inch white pine flooring may be made in the manner 
represented in Fig. 9, where the flooring runs up and down. 
When this lumber is put on in the seasoned condition a 
single layer would make tighter walls than can be secured 
with the stave silo where the staves are neither beveled 
nor tongued and grooved. 

In the silos smaller than 18 feet inside diameter the 
two layers of boards outside will give the needed strength, 
but when the silo is larger than this and deep, there 
would be needed a layer of the split fencing on the inside 
for strength; and if in addition to this there is added a 
layer of 3-ply Giant P. and B. paper, a lining of very 
superior quality would be thus secured. 

Lining of Half-inch Boards and Paper. — Where paper 
is used to make the joints between boards air-tight, as 
represented in Fig. 4, it is extremely important that a 
quality which will not decay, and which is both acid and 
water-proof be used. A paper which is not acid and water- 
proof will disintegrate at the joints in a very short time, 
and thus leave the lining very defective. 

The best paper for . silo purposes with which we are 
acquainted is a 3-ply Giant P. and B. brand manufactured 
by the Standard Paint Co., of Chicago and New York. 
It is thick, strong, and acid and water-proof. A silo 
lining with two thicknesses of good fencing having only 
small knots, and these thoroughly sound and not black, 
will make an excellent lining. Great care should be taken 
to have the two layers of boards break joints at their 
centers, and the paper should lap not less than 8 to 12 
inches. 

The great danger with this type of lining will be that 
the boards may not press the two layers of paper to- 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 



75 



gether close enough but that some air may arise between 
the two sheets where they overlap, and thus gain access 
to the silage. It would be an excellent precaution to take 
to tack down closely with small carpet tacks the edges 
of the paper where they overlap, and if this is done a 
lap of 4 inches will be sufficient. 




Fig, 9, Showing the construction of the all-wood round silo 
where the lining is made of ordinary four-inch flooring 
running up and down, and nailed to girts cut in hetween 
the studding every four feet. 



76 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

Tlie first layer of lining should be put on with 8-penny 
nails, two in each board and stud, and the second or inner 
layer with 10-penny nails, the fundamental object being 
to draw the two layers of boards as closely together as 
possible. 

Such a lining as this will be very durable because the 
paper will keep all the lumber dry except the inner layer 
of half-inch boards, and this will be kept wet by the paper 
and silage until empty, and then the small thickness of 
wood will dry too quickly to permit rotting to set in. 

A still more substantial lining of the same type' may 
be secured by using two layers of paper between three 
layers of boards, as represented in Fig. 4, and if the cli- 
mate is not extremely severe, or if the silo is only to be 
fed from in the summer, it would be better to do away 
with the layer of sheeting and paper outside, putting on 
the inside, thus securing two layers of paper and three 
layers of boards for the lining with the equivalent of only 
2 inches of lumber. 



The Silo Roof. 

The roof of cylindrical silos may be made in several 
ways, but the simplest type of construction and the one 
requiring the least amount of material is that represented 
in Figs. 7 and 8, and which is the cone. 

If the silo is not larger than 15 feet inside diameter 
no rafters need be used, and only a single circle like that 
in the center of Fig. 8, this is made of 2-inch stuff cut in 
sections in the form of a circle and two layers spiked 
together, breaking joints. 

The roof boards are put on by nailing them to the 
inner circle and to the plate, as shown in the drawing, 
the boards having been sawed diagonally as represented 
at H, Fig. 2, making the wide and narrow ends the same 
relative widths as the circumference of the outer edge 
of the- roof and of the inner circle. 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO'. " 77 

If the silo has an inside diameter exceeding 15 feet 
it will he necessary to use two or three hoops according 
to diameter. When the diameter is greater than 25 feet 
it will usually be best to use rafters and headers cut in 
for circles 4 feet apart to nail the roof boards to, which 
are cut as represented at H, Fig, 2. 

The conical roof may be covered with ordinary 
shingles, splitting those wider than 8 inches. By laying 
the butts of the shingles % to i/4 of an inch apart it is 
not necessary to taper any of the shingles except a few 
C9urses near the peak of the roof. 

In laying the shingles to a true circle, and with the 
right exposure to the weather, a good method is to use 
a strip of wood as a radius which works on a center set 
at the peak of the roof and provided with a nail or pencil 
to make a mark on the shingle where the butts of the 
next course are to come. The radiusi may be bored with 
a series of holes the right distance apart to slip over the 
center pivot, or the nail may be drawn and reset as 
desired. Some carpenters file a notch in the shingling 
hatchet, and use this to bring the shingle to place. 

Ventilation of the Silo. 

Every silo which has a roof should be provided with 
ample ventilation to keep the under side of the roof dry, 
and in the case of wood silos, to prevent the walls and 
lining from rotting. One of the most serious mistakes in 
the early construction of* wood silos was the making of the 
walls with dead-air spaces, which, on account of damp- 
ness from the silage, led to rapid "dry-rot" of the lining. 

In the wood silo and in the brick lined silo it is im- 
portant to provide ample ventilation for the spaces be- 
tween the studs, as well as for the roof and the inside 
of the silo, and a good method of doing this is represented 
in Fig. 3, where the lower portion represents the sill and 
the upper the plate of the silo. Between each pair of 
studs where needed a 1%-inch auger hole to admit air is 



78 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

bored through the siding and sheeting and covered with 
a piece of wire netting to keep out mice and rats. At the 
top of the silo on the inside, the lining is only covered to 
within two inches of the plate and this space is covered 
with wire netting to prevent silage from being thrown 
over when filling. This arrangement permits dry air from 
outside to enter at the bottom between each pair of studs 
and to pass up and into the silo, thus keeping the lining 
and studding dry and at the same time drying the under 
side of the roof and the inside of the lining as fast as 
exposed. In those cases where the sill is made of 2x4's 
cut in 2-foot lengths there will be space enough left be- 
tween the curved edge of the siding and sheeting and the 
sill for air to enter so that no holes need be bored as 
described above and represented in Fig. 3. The openings 
at the plate should always be provided and the silo should 
have some sort of ventilator in the roof. This ventilator 
may take the form of a cupola to serve for an ornament 
as well, or it may be a simple galvanized iron pipe 12 
to 24 inches in diameter, rising a foot or two through the 
peak of the roof. 



Painting the Silo Lining, 

It is impossible to so paint a wood lining that it will 
not become wholly or partly saturated with the silage 
juices. This being true, when the lining is again exposed 
when feeding the silage out, the paint greatly retards the 
drying of the wood work and the result is decay sets in, 
favored by prolonged dampness. For this reason it is 
best to leave a wood lining naked or to use some anti- 
septic which does not form a water-proof coat. 

The cost of such a silo as that described in the fore- 
going pages, is estimated by Prof. King at about 12 cents 
per square foot of outside surface, when the lining con- 
sists of two layers of half-inch split fencing, with a 3-ply 
Giant P. and B. paper between, and with one layer of split 
fencing outside, covered with rabbetted house siding. If 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 79 

built inside of the barn, without a roof and not painted, 
the cost would be reduced 3 cents per square foot, or 
more. Silos of this type, 30 feet deep, built outside, pro- 
vided with a roof and including 6 feet of foundations are 
stated to cost as follows: 13 feet inside diameter (80 tons 
capacity), $183.00; 15 feet diameter (105 tons capacity), 
$211.00; 21 feet diameter (206 tons capacity), $298.00; and 
25 feet diameter (300 tons capacity), $358.00. 

Complete specifications and building plans for a 300- 
ton silo, of the kind described in the preceding pages, are 
given in Prof. Woll's Book on Silage. The dimensions of 
this silo are: Diameter, 26 feet; height, 30 feet. 

According to our present knowledge this form of silo 
is most likely the best that can be built; it is a some- 
what complicated structure, calls for more time and skill 
for its construction, and costs more than other kinds of 
wooden circular silos, especially more than the stave 
silo soon to be described; but once built needs but 
little attention and it is durable and economical; being 
practically air-tight, the losses of food materials in the 
siloed fodder are reduced to a minimum. 

Modifications of the Wisconsin Silo. 

Several modifications of the Wisconsin Silo have been 
proposed and have given good satisfaction; one is de- 
scribed by Prof. Plumb in Purdue Experiment Station 
Bulletin No. 91, as follows: 

The studs are 18 inches apart, and for about half way 
up there are three layers of sheeting against the studs 
with tarred paper between. The upper half of the studs 
has but two layers of sheeting. The sheeting was made 
by taking 2x6-inch white pine planks and sawing to make 
four boards. The silo rests on a stone wall 18 inches 
deep and 16 inches wide. It is 30 feet high, 18 feet 4 
inches inside diameter, and holds about 150 tons. An. in- 
expensive but durable roof was placed upon it. The cost 
of this structure is as follows: As the work was all done 



80 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

by the regular farm help at odd hours, the item of labor 
is given at estimated cost: Studding, $13.03; sheeting, 
$63.00; 5 rolls of paper, $6.25; nails, $2.40; cement for 
wall, $2.40; labor, $20.00; total, $107.08. The owner of the 
silo was so pleased with the service this one had rendered 
since its construction, that he built another like it during 
the summer of 1902. This silo is connected by a covered 
passage and chute with the feeding floor of the cattle barn. 
The construction of this type of silo calls for as much 
care in putting on sheeting, making doors and keeping 
out the air at these places and at the foundation, as is 
required with the more expensive forms previously de- 
scribed. The need for outer siding will depend in a large 
measure on circumstances. The farmer building the silo 
(living in Central Indiana) has had no trouble with his 
silage freezing. In Northern Indiana the siding would 
naturally be more necessary than in the southern part of 
this state, but generally speaking, siding is not necessary, 
although it does materially add to the attractiveness of 
the silo. 



Plastered Round Wooden Silos, 

Plastered round wooden silos have met with favor 
among farmers who have tried them, and are preferred 
by many for either the original or the modified Wisconsin 
silo, on account of their ease of construction and their 
durability. In the experience of H. B. Gurler, a well 
known Illinois dairyman, who has built several silos on 
his farm in the course of the last dozen years, the walls 
of plastered silos keep perfectly and there is no waste 
from moldy silage along the wall; neither is there any 
difficulty about cracking of the plaster, if this is put on 
properly and a good quality of cement is used. Gurler 
described the construction of his plastered silo in a recent 
number of Breeder's Gazette, accompanying his descrip- 
tion with building plans of his silo. We have reproduced 
the latter changed and improved in some points of minor 



THE "WISCONSIN" SILO. 



81 



importance, and give below a brief description of the 
method of building silos of this type. (See Figs. 10 and 
11.) 

The foundation may be made of stone, brick or cement, 
and is carried to the proper distance above ground. Sills 
composed of pieces of 2x4, two feet long, beveled at the 
ends so as to be toe-nailed together to form a circle of, 
the same diameter as the interior diameter of the silo, 
are placed on the foundation bedded in asphalt or. ce- 
mented mortar, and on this the studding is erected, using 
two by fours, placed 15 or 16 inches apart. Inside sheeting 
was secured by having 6-inch fencing re-sawed, making 
the material a little less than i^-inch thick. On this was 
nailed laths made from the same material, the laths being 




, C/ev^nori 



-^ex-fion 



Jo«4. /b%/lo^ 

irlg". 10, Elevation and section of plastered round wooden 
silo. 

6 



82 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



made with beveled edges so that when nailed onto the 
sheeting horizontally, the same way as the sheeting is 
put on, there are dove-tailed joints between the laths to 
receive the cement, preventing its loosening until it is 
broken. The patent grooved lath might be used, but they 
cannot be sprung to a twenty-foot circle. Better than 
either kind of wooden laths, however, is wire netting or 
metal lath of one fbrm or another, such as is now gen- 
erally used in outside plastering of houses, nailed on 
strips of 1x2' s which are placed 15 inches apart, and 
nailed onto the studding through the sheeting. Metal 
lath will not take up moisture from the silage juices, and 
thus expand and possibly cause the plaster to crack, as 
would be likely to occur in case of wooden laths. For 



f £'m^'j^«5s /a" CfftTerz. 
4i 'Miidt /miry 6 V/«fe 




»P^f^.g, 









Fig, 11, Foundation plan and section of plastered round 
wooden silo. 



J 




1 


i^faiiiili 


'4| 


^ m ,||; 









83 



84 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

outside sheeting similar material as that used for inside 
sheeting may be used. If built inside of a barn or in a 
sheltered place, no outside sheeting would be required, 
although it would add greatly to the looks of the silo. 
Not being certain that the inside sheeting, laths and 
cement offered sufficient resistance to the outward pressure 
in the silo, Mr. Gurler put on wooden hoops outside of 
the studding, of the same material as for the inside sheet- 
ing, putting it on double thickness and breaking joints. 
The silo described, which would hold 250-300 tons, cost 
$300, without a roof. Mr. Gurler considers this silo the 
best that can be built, and estimates that it will last for 
at least fifty years, if given a wash of cement every three 
years and if any cracks that may start be filled before- 
the silo is filled again. 

Brick Lined Silos. 

As an illustration of silos of this type we give below 
a description of the silo built in connection with the Dairy 
Barn of the Wisconsin Experimental Station; the accom- 
panying figures, 12 and 13, will show the exterior appear- 
ance of the barn and silo, and a plan of the eastern half 
of the first fioor of this barn. 

The silo is circular in form, 18 feet inside diameter 
and 33 feet deep. It is a framed structure lined inside 
and outside with brick. On 2x6-inch uprights, two wrap- 
pings of %-inch stuff, 6 inches wide, are put, breaking 

joints, with no paper between. Brick is laid tight against 

t> 
this lining, and on the brick surface is a heavy coating of 

Portland cement (1 part cement, 1 part sand). On the 
outside brick is laid up against the lining with a small 
open space between (about i^ inch). The silo is filled 
from the third floor of the barn, the loads of corn being 
hauled directly onto this floor over the trestle shown to 
the right in Pig. 12, and there run through the feed cut- 
ter. When the silage is taken out for feeding, it falls 
through a box chute to the main floor where it is received 
into a truck (Fig. 37) in which it is conveyed to the 
mangers of the animals. 



BRIC^ LINED SILOS. 



85 




86 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 







.^^ 



?.f^- 



1-^ CO 

2 I 









I*, 



THE STAVE SILO. 87 

An illustration and description of the original round 
silo, with a capacity of 90 tons, built at the same Station 
in 1891, are given in Prof. Woll's Book on Silage, where 
descriptions and illustrations of a number of other first- 
class round wooden silos will also be found, like those 
constructed at the Experiment Stations in New Jersey, 
Missouri, and South Dakota. 



Stave Silos. 

The stave silo is the simplest type of separate silo 
buildings, and partly for this reason, partly on account of 
its cheapness of construction, more silos of this kind have 
been built during the past few years than any other silo 
type. 

Since their first introduction Stave Silos have been 
favorably mentioned by most writers on agricultural 
topics, as well as by experiment station men. In the 
recent bulletin from Cornell Experiment Station, we find 
the stave silo spoken of as "the most practical and suc- 
cessful silo which can be constructed," and the Ottawa 
Experiment Station is on record for the following state- 
ment in regard to the staVe silo: "From extensive observa- 
tion and study of silos and silo construction, and from 
experience here with a number of different silos, it would 
appear that the stave silo is the form of cheap silos that 
for various reasons is most worthy of recommendation. 
It combines simplicity and cheapness of construction with 
the requisite conditions to preserve the silage in the very 
best condition for feeding." 

Stave silos are, generally speaking, similar to large 
railroad or fermentation tanks, and to make satisfactory 
silos should be built as well as a No, 1 water tank. The 
first stave silos were built in this country in the begin- 
ning of the nineties; they soon found some enthusiastic 
friends, while most people, including nearly all writers 
and lecturers on silo construction, were inclined to be 
skeptical as to their practicability. It was objected that 



88 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

the staves would expand so as to burst the hoops when 
the silo was filled with green fodder; that they would 
shrink after having been left empty during the summer 
months, so that the silo would fall to pieces, or at least 
so that it could not again be made air-tight; and finally, 
that the silage would freeze in such silos, and its feeding 
value thereby be greatly lowered. In addition to this, it was 
claimed that a substantial stave silo would cost as much 
as a first class ordinary all-wood silo of the same capacity, 
which would not have the objectionable features of the 
former. 

In spite of these objections the stave silo has, however, 
gradually gained ground, until of late years it has quite 
generally been adopted in preference to other kinds of 
silos, particularly in the Eastern and Central states. This 
being a fact, it follows that the objections previously made 
to the stave silos cannot be valid, that the staves do not 
swell so as to burst the hoops, or shrink so as to cause 
the silo to fall to pieces, or become leaky. As regards 
the danger from freezing of the silage, the criticisms of 
the stave silo are in order, as silage in outdoor stave silos 
will be likely to freeze in cold weather, in any of the 
Northern states or Canada; but, according to the testi- 
mony of farmers who have had experience with frozen 
silage, this is more an inconvenience than a loss. The 
freezing does not injure the feeding value of the silage, 
or its palatability. When the silage is thawed out it is as 
good as ever, and eaten by cattle with a relish. 

Why Stave Silos Have Become Numerous. 

The main reasons why stave silos have been preferred 
by the majority of farmers during late years are that they 
/Can be put up easily, quickly and cheaply, and the expense 
for a small silo of this kind is comparatively small. Many 
a farmer has built a stave silo who could not afford to 
build a high-priced silo, and others have preferred to build 
two small silos for one large one, or a small one in addi- 
tion to an old, larger one that they may already have. 



THE STAVE SILO. 89 

Manufacturing firms have, furthermore, made a specialty 
of stave silo construction, and pushed the sale of such 
silos through advertisements and neat circulars. Having 
made a special business of the building of stave silos, and 
having had several years' experience as to the require- 
ments and precautions to be observed in building such 
silos, these firms furnish silos complete with all necessary 
fixtures, that are greatly superior to any which a farmer 
would be apt to build according to more or less incomplete 
directions. 

It follows that the stave silos sent out by manufactur- 
ing firms will generally be more expensive than such a 
farmer can build himself, because they are built better. 
It does not pay to build a poor silo, however, except to 
bridge over an emergency. Poor, cheap silos are a con- 
stant source of annoyance, expense and trouble, whether 
built square, rectangular or round. Th6 cheap silos de- 
scribed in other places of this book have not been given 
for the purpose of encouraging the building of such silos, 
but rather to show that if a farmer cannot afford to build 
a permanent good silo, he is not necessarily barred from 
the advantages of having silage for his stock, since a 
temporary silo may be built at a small cash outlay. 

We can therefore consistently recommend that parties 
intending to build stave silos patronize the manufacturers 
who have made silo construction a special business. These 
firms furnish all necessary silo fittings, with complete 
directions for putting up the silos, and, if desired, also 
skilled help to superintend their building. Perhaps a 
large majority of the farmers of the country cannot, how- 
ever, patronize manufacturers of stave silos because the 
expense of shipping the lumber and fixtures would be pro- 
hibitory. For the convenience of such parties and others 
who may prefer to build their own stave silos, directions 
for their construction are given in the following: The 
specifications for a 100-ton stave silo, printed below, which 
are taken from Woll's Book on Silage, were furnished by 
Claude & Starck, Architects, Madison, Wisconsin. 



90 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



Specifications for 100-ton Silo. 

MASONRY. 

Excavate the entire area to be occupied by the silo to 
a depth of 6 inches; excavate for foundation wall to a 
depth of 16 inches; in this trench build a wall 18 inches 
wide and 20 inches high, of field stone laid in rich lime 
mortar. Level off top and plaster inside, outside and on 
top with cement mortar, 1 part cement to 1 part sand. 
Fill inside area with four inches of good gravel, thoroughly- 
tamped down; after the wood work is in place coat' this 
with one inch of cement mortar, 1 part cement to 1 part 
clean sand. Cement shall be smoothly finished, dished 
well to the center and brought up at least 2 inches all 
around inside and outside walls. 

CARPENTRY. 

All staves shall be 26 feet long in two pieces, breaking 
joints, and made from clear, straight-grained cypress, 2x6 
inches, beveled on edges to an outside radius of 8 feet, 
mill-sized to the exact dimensions and dressed on all sides. 
There shall be three doors in the fifth, eighth and tenth 
spaces between the hoops, made by cutting out from staves 
28 inches long cut to a 45-degree bevel sloping to the 
inside. (See Fig. 15.) The staves shall. then be fastened 
together with two 2x4-inch battens cut on inside tO' an 
8'-ft. radius and bolted to each stave with two i/4-inch 
diameter carriage bolts with round head sunk on inside 
and nut on outside. The staves between the doors shall 
be fastened together, top and bottom, with %-inch diam- 
eter hardwood dowel pins, and abutting ends of staves 
shall be squared and toe-nailed together. 

Bottom Plates. — Bottom plates shall be made of 2x4- 
inch pieces about 2 feet long, cut to a curve of 7 feet 10 
inches radius outside. They shall be bedded in cement 
mortar and the staves shall then be set on the foundation 
and well spiked to these plates. 



DOOR OF STAVE SILO. 



91 



Hoops. — Hoops shall be made from two pieces of 
%-incli diameter round iron with upset ends, threaded 
8 inches, with nut and washer at each end; as a support 
for the hoops a piece of 4x6 shall be substituted for 
a stave on opposite sides and holes bored in it and the 
ends of hoops passed through these holes and tightened 
against the sides of the 4x6-inch. The hoops shall be 
twelve in number starting at the bottom 6 inches apart 
and increasing in distance 6 inches between each hoop 




Fig, 15, Appearance of door in stave silo after 'being sawed 
out, and side view in place. The opening is largest on 
the inside of silo. (Clinton.) 



92 



HOW TO B^UILD A SILO. 



until a space of 3 feet 6 inches is reached; from this point 
up this distance shall be preserved- as near as possible to 
the top. 

Roof. — Roof shall be made to a half-pitch of 6-inch 
clear siding lapping joints, nailed to 2x4-inch rafters, 2-feet 
centers 1-foot by 4-inch ridge, and 2x4-inch plates. These 
plates to be supported on two 4x4-inch pieces resting on 
top of hoops. Three lx4-inch collar beams shall be spiked 




Fig* 16. A cheap roof of a stave silo. {Clinton.) 



to end and middle rafters to tie side of roof together. (See 
Fig. 12.) Fig. 16 shows another simple construction of 
roof on a stave silo. 

PAINTING. 

The entire outside of the silo, including roof, shall be 
painted two coats of good mineral paint; the entire inside 
surface of the staves and doors shall be thoroughly coated 
with hot coal tar. 



MATERIAL FOR THE SILO. 93 

Note. — Before filling silo, tar paper should be tacked 
tightly over doors and the entire inside of silo examined 
and cracks tightly caulked. 

The method of construction specified in the preceding 
may of course be modified in many particulars, according 
to the conditions present in each case, cost of different 
kinds of lumber, maximum amount of money to be ex- 
pended on silo, etc. 

The following directions for the construction of stave 
silos are taken from two bulletins on this subject, published 
by the Cornell and Ottawa Experiment Stations. For a 
silo 20 feet in diameter, a circular trench 18 inches to two 
feed wide and with an outer diameter of 22 feet is dug 
about 2 feet deep, or below the frost line. The surface 
soil over the whole included area, and for 2 feet outside, is 
removed to a depth of 10 or 12 inches at the -same time. 
The trench is then filled to the level of the interior with 
stone, well pounded down, the surface stone being broken 
quite small, and thin cement (1 part of cement to 4 of sand 
thoroughly mixed) poured over, well worked in and left 
for a few days. This is followed by a coat of good cement 
(1 part cement to 3 sand), care being taken when finished 
to have the surface level and smooth. 

The silo is set up as shown in Fig. 17, which shows 
a. cross-section of one method of construction. 

The posts (a, a, a, a) should be of 6x6 material and 
run the entire length of the silo. These should be first 
set up vertically and stayed securely in place. 

The scaffolding may be constructed by setting up 2x4 
scantling in the positions shown in Fig. 17, as b, b, b, b. 
Boards nailed from these 2x4 scantling and to the 
6x6 posts will form a rigid framework, across which 
the planks for the scaffold platform may be laid. Be- 
fore the scaffolding is all in place the staves should be 
stood up within the inclosure; otherwise difficulty will be 
experienced in getting them into position. 

It is probable that no better material can be obtained 



94 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



•-T 


-I 


-^.^-^^sissa^ 


**<!r 


—•:-.- 


7^ 






// ^jjf^p*^^ 




) 




1 <y^ 


Z^^r^ 


^^ 


V* I 


1 








^^ 








\ /% 


V 


7^ 


S^H. 1 


1 




' # 




/ 


\1 


1 

1 


' 1 


1 


/ 




1 


V 
1 
1 

1 '^ 


"""^^ 


''\ 


/ 




# • 


\;' 




«^vlk 


/' 




M A 


\ 




1 ■^x "S 


. ,'' 


. 


wxx' 1 


1 




























1 *^ 


^^'^^ilS^^^^ 


^^^ 


VO- , 


1 
1 


r^ 




^N ^^'^^^'^JiffffltTTl'^^^^^ 


W^^ ,/ 


•— _ _< — 


_L _ 








_ .^ — > . 




^ T" 


_^ — — — . 


- — — — —N«~ ~ ■"••""■«"" 


/7~ — — — 




'~T, 



J..-1 






'%^ 



/^ig". 17 , Cross section of stave silo. The dotted lines 
show how scaffolding may te put up. 

for the staves than Southern cypress. This, however, is 
so expensive in the North, as to preclude its use in most 
cases. Of the cheaper materials hemlock, white pine, and 
yellow pine, are usually the most available. At the pres- 
ent time hemlock is one of the cheapest satisfactory 
materials which can be purchased, and it is probably as 
good as any of the cheaper materials. It should be sound 
and free from loose knots. 

If the silo is to have a diameter of 12 feet or less, the 
staves should be made of either 2x4 material, unbeveled 
on the edges and neither tongued nor grooved, or of 
2x6 material beveled slightly on the edges to make the 
staves conform to the circular shape of the silo. If the 



STAVES FOR SETTING UP SILO. 



95 



silo is to have a diameter of more than 12 feet, the staves 
should' be of 2x6 material, and neither beveled nor 
tongued and grooved on the edges. The staves should be 
surfaced on the inside so that a smooth face may be pre- 
sented which will facilitate thd settling of the silage. The 
first stave set up should be made plumb, and should be 
toe-nailed at the top to one of the posts originally set. 




Fig. 18. Shows how 'barrel staves may te used in setting up 
a silo. They should he removed hefore the silo is filled. 

Immediately a stave is set in place it should be toe-nailed 
at the top to the preceding stave set. It has been found 
that the work of setting up and preserving the circular 
outline may be materially aided by the use of old barrel 
staves (see Fig. 18). For a silo 12 feet in diameter the 
curve in the ^tave of the sugar barrel is best adapted; 
for a 16-foot silo the flour barrel stave is best, and for a 
silo 20 feet or more in diameter the stave of the cement 



96 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

barrel is best. If when the silo staves are put in place 
they are toe-nailed securely to the ones previous'ly set; 
if they are fastened firmly to the permanent upright posts 
(Pig. 17, a, a, a, a) ; if the barrel staves are used as 
directed above, the silo will have sufficient rigidity to stand 
until the hoops are put in place. However, if it becomes 
necessary for any reason to delay for any considerable 
time the putting on of the hoops, boards should be nailed 
across the top of the silo. 

When it is found impossible to secure staves of the 
full length desired, a joint or splice must be made. 

For a silo 30 feet deep, staves 20 feet in length may be 
used. A part of these should be used their full length and 
part should be sawed through the middle, thus malnng 
staves of 20 and 10 feet length. In setting them up the 
ends which meet at the splice should be squared and 
toe-nailed securely together. They should alternate so that 
first a long stave is at the bottom then a short one, thus 
breaking joints at 10 feet and 20 feet from the base. 

For the hoops, %-inch round iron or steel rods are 
recommended, although cheaper substitutes have been 
found satisfactory. Each hoop should be in three sections 
for a silo 12 feet in diameter, in four sections for a silo 
16 feet in diameter. If the method of construction shown 
in Fig. 17 is followed, the hoops will need to be in four 
sections each, the ends being passed through the upright 
6x6 posts, and secured by heavy washers and nuts. The 
bottom hoop should be about six inches from the base of 
the silo; the second hoop should be not more than two 
feet from the first; the third hoop two and one-half feet 
from the second, the distance between hoops being in- 
creased by one-half foot until they are three and one-half 
feet apart, which distance should be maintained except for 
the hoops at the top of the silo which may be four feet 
apart. The hoops should be drawn fairly tight before the 
silo is filled, but not perfectly tight. They must be tight 
enough to close up the space between the staves, thus 
preventing any foreign matter from getting into the cracks 



IRON HOOPS FOR SILOS. 97 

which, would prevent the staves from closing up as they 
swell, and allow air to enter. To hold hoops and staves 
in place during the summer when the silo is empty, staples 
should be driven over the hoops into the staves. If a suf- 
ficient number of staples are used they will prevent the 
sagging or dropping down of the hoops, and they will 
hold the staves securely in place. 

The hoops should be watched very closely for a few 
days after the silo is filled. If the strain becomes quite 
intense the nuts should be slightly loosened. If during 
the summer when the silo is empty and the staves thor- 
oughly dry the hoops are tightened so that the staves 
are drawn closely together when the silo is filled and the 
wood absorbs moisture and begins to swell, the hoops 
must be eased somewhat to allow for the expansion. 

The doors, 2 feet wide by 2i/4 feet high, should be 
located where convenience in feeding dictates. The lower 
door should be between the second and third hoops at 
the bottom, and other doors will usually be needed in every 
second space between there and the top, except that no 
door will be needed in the top space, as the silage when 
settled will be sufiiciently low to enable it to be taken out 
at the door in the space below. Plans should be made 
for the doors at the time the staves are set. When the 
place is reached where it is desired to have the doors, a 
saw should be started in the edge of the stave at the points 
where the top and bottom of the doors are to come. The 
saw should be inserted so that the door can be sawed out 
on a bevel, making the opening larger on the inside of the 
silo. (See Fig. 15.) This will enable the door to be re- 
moved and put in place only from the inside, and when set 
in place and pressed down with silage the harder the pres- 
sure the tighter will the door fit. After the silo is set up 
and the hoops have been put on and tightened the cutting 
out of the doors may be completed. Before doing this, 
cleats 2 inches by 3 inches and in length equal to the 
width of the door, should be made which will conform to 
the circular shape of the silo. One of these cleats should 

7 



98 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

be securely bolted to tbe top and one to the bottom of 
where the door is to be cut. (See Fig. 15.) After the 
bolting, the door may be sawed out, and it is then ready 
for use. When set in place at time of filling the silo a 
piece of tarred paper inserted at the top and bottom will 
fill the opening made by the saw and prevent the entrance 
of any air around the door. 

Another Door for Stave Silo. 

Silage being heavy to handle, and pitch up, has made 
continuous doors^ a popular feature of a few factory-built 
silos, as it is much easier to get the silage out of the silo 
for feeding. The illustration. Fig. 19, shows a method of 
making a door in homemade silos which is continuous with 
the exception of a narrow brace piece extending across 
the opening, under each hoop, to give rigidity to the struc- 
ture. These pieces should be securely toe-nailed at each 
end to the staves. The jamb pieces, e, e, should be 2 
inches thick, beveled off on the side away from the door, 
securely spiked to the inside of the stave, as shown, so as 
to leave a rabbet 2x2 inches. Great care should be taken 
to have these pieces exactly the same distance apart 
throughout their entire length, so that the door boards, 
being sawed the exact length, will fit alike and properly 
all the way up, and if care be taken in this regard it will 
not be necessary to replace them in the same order at 
each successive filling of the silo. The door boards should 
be matched, two inches thick the same as the staves, and 
if surfaced and well seasoned there need be no fear of the 
silage spoiling around such a door. A strip of acid and 
water-proof paper may be placed in the rabbet, between 
the ends of the door boards and the stave, as an extra 
precaution, but if the carpenter work is well done it is not 
absolutely necessary. 

Such a door can be adapted to any form of stave silo, 
and, if not more than two feet wide, the fact that the door 
section is straight instead of curved will make no differ- 
ence. 



SECTION OF SILO DOOR. 



99 




tt\\uj( o)^3vVo;s^xiQT^ 




Fig, 19. a, a, Staves, h, d 



Door Boards, c, Brace 2^2 'by 



6, set in. d, d, Hoops, e, e, Jamh Pieces. 



100 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



If the silo is built outside of the barn some sort of a 
roof is desirable. This should be suflBiciently wide to pro- 
tect the walls of the silo as thoroughly as possible. A 
very satisfactory roof is shown in Fig. 16. Two other con- 
structions of a cheap roof for a stave silo are shown in 
Figs. 20 and 21. The latter was built at the Indiana Ex- 
periment Station at a total cost of $10.50, viz., lumber 
$4.00, tin put on and painted $6.00 and hardware 50 cents. 
Two 2x6 pieces (AA) were placed on edge and toe-nailed 
to the top of the staves they rested on; the projection is 
for supporting the carrier at filling time. They are tied 
together by the short pieces E. The roof is in three 
sections, G, H, and I. O and H are hinged to the frame 
A, A, and may be tipped up when the silo is nearly full. 




Fig, 20, A cheap roof for stave silos. 



CHEAP ROOF FOR STAVE SILO. 



101 



to allow filling to the top. The narrow middle section is 
light enough to lift off on either side, and leaves the open- 
ing for the carrier to deliver into. 

On the framework B, B, and C, C, cheap sheeting 
boards are nailed. This is then covered with tin, soldered 



^ J^ 


p^ 




./'/f^ ; 




• r ! ' ' " ' ' 


^ 


' . 'IP 




V- 






j^ 






Fig, 21, A CHEAP EOOF OF STAVE SILO. 

A, B, and E, 2x6 in.; C, 2x4 in.; D, E, Enlarged Outside 
End; F, Binges; G, H, I, Sections of Hoof; J, K, 2x2 
in. {Van Norman.) 

joints and painted. The sections should be fastened down 
by means of staples and hooks, or other device; the hooks 
are used on this one. On the inner edge of G and H, 
2x2-inch strips, K, are nailed. Close to these are placed 
similar strips, J, to which the cross-boards are nailed, 



102 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

forming the section I of the roof. The tin on the section 
I should come over to the side of J. On the other sec- 
tions it should run up on the side of K, making a water- 
tight joint. 

The sections G and H have slope of nearly 3 inches, 
being the difference in height of A and C. C is notched 
one inch at the outer end. (Van Norman.) 



A Modification of the Stave Silo, 

Stave silos are admittedly cheap and readily put up, 
but unless hoops are tightened as they dry out, they may 
be easily blown into a shapeless mass in case of a heavy 
gale. The modification of the stave silo described in the 
following has the advantage of being more rigid and sub- 
stantial; it has been put up in a number of places in the 
East, and has apparently given good satisfaction for sev- 
eral years at least. In building this silo some good, tough 
joak plank two inches thick and of any convenient length 
are procured. Rock elm will do, although not as good as 
oak. The planks are sawed into strips half an inch thick. 
The foundation of the silo is made of concrete, and a little 
larger than the outside diameter of the silo. A stake 
is set in the center and on this a piece is nailed, just long 
enough to act as a guide in setting scantling when erecting 
sides. For sides li/^x4-inch hemlock of any desired length 
is used. These are set up on the circumference of the 
silo, perpendicular to the bottom, 3 feet and 7 feet up nail 
on the outside one of the half-inch strips mentioned be- 
fore, being sure to keep the circle regular. This will keep 
upright pieces in place until the circle is completed. On 
each hoop so started other half-inch pieces are nailed, 
lapping them in different places until each hoop is three 
inches thick. Other hoops are now put on in the same 
manner, placing them one foot apart at bottom, up to the 
three-foot hoop 16 inches apart from three to the 7-foot 
hoop, then increasing the distance between each hoop two 



MODIFICATION OF STAVE SILO. 103 

inches, until they are 30 inches apart, at which distance 
they should be kept. If staves are to be spliced it should 
be done on the hoop. When this is done, a silo will be 
made of 1^/^x4 inch, thoroughly hooped with wooden hoops 
2x3 inches. 

The inside may be covered with the best quality of 
felt, well tacked to the staves, on which a thick coat of 
thick coal tar is spread; over this another thickness of 
felt is put while the tar coating is still green. The silo is 
lined with %-inch Georgia pine ceiling, nailing thoroughly, 
and the lining coated with two coats of coal tar, putting 
on the first one quite thin, but using all the wood will take 
in, and for a second coat tar as thick as can be spread. 
Give plenty of time to dry before filling. 

The outside of the silo may be boarded up with ver- 
tical boarding, or it may have strips nailed on hoops and. 
be boarded with novelty siding. The latter method will 
make a stronger and better looking silo. If the hoops are 
well nailed to the staves when being made, we shall have 
a silo in which it is impossible for the staves to shrink 
or get loose. (Woodward.) 

Protection against freezing. — If the silo is built out- 
doors in any of the Northern states, it is necessary to pro- 
vide some special means to keep the silage from freezing 
in case this is considered a very objectionable feature. 
The silo may be inclosed by a wide jacket of rough boards 
nailed to four uprights, leaving the section of the silo 
where the doors are easy of access; the space between the 
silo and outside jacket is filled with straw in the fall; this 
may be taken out and used for bedding in the spring, thus 
allowing the staves to be thoroughly dried out during the 
summer, and preventing the silo from rotting. 

Number of staves required for stave silos.— The follow- 
ing table will be found useful in calculating the number of 
staves required for silos of different diameters, and feed- 
ing areas which these will give: 



104 HO'W TO BUILD A SILO. 

CIRCUMFERENCES AND AREAS OF CIRCLES. 



Diameter, 
Feet. 


Circum- 
ference, 
Feet. 


Area, 

Square 
Feet. 


Diameter, 

Feet. 


Circum- 
ference, 
Feet. 


Area, 
Square 
Feet. 


8 


25.1 


50.3 


21 


66.0 


346.4 


9 


28.3 


63.6 


22 


69.1 


380.1 


10 


31.4 


78.5 


23 


72.3 


415.5 


11 


34.6 


95.0 


24 


75.4 


452.4 


12 


37.7 


113.1 


25 


78.5 


490.9 


13 


40.8 


132.7 


26 


81.7 


530.9 


14 


44.0 


153.9 


27 


84.8 


572.6 


15 


47.1 


179.7 


28 


88.0 


615.8 


16 


50.3 


201.1 


29 


91.1 


660.5 


17 


53.4 


227.0 


30 


94.2 


706.9 


18 


56.5 


254.5 


31 


97.4 


754.8 


19 


59.7 


283.5 


32 


100.5 


804.2 


20 


62.8 


314.2 









To find the circumference of a circle, multiply the 
diameter by 3.1416. 

To find the area of a circle, multiply the square of the 
diameter by 0.7854. 

To find the cubical contents of a cylinder, multiply the 
area of the base (floor) by the height. 

E!xample. — A silo 16 feet in diameter and 26 feet high 
is wanted; how many staves 2x6 inches will be needed, 
and what will be the feeding area in the silo and its 
capacity? 

The circumference of a circle 16 feet in diameter is 50.3 
feet; there will therefore be required 50.3-^1/^=101 staves, 
2x6 inches, 26 feet high, or if staves of this height cannot 
be obtained, 135 staves 20 feet long, or 50 each of 12 and 
14 feet long staves. The feeding area will be 16X16X 
0.7854=201.1 square feet, and the cubical content of the 
silo, 201.1X26=5228.6 cubic feet. Estimating the weight 
of a cubic foot of corn silage at 40 pounds, 5228.6 cubic 
feet of silage would weigh 209,164 pounds, or about 100 
tons, which is the approximate capacity of a round silo 
of the dimensions given. 



OTHER FORMS OP ROUND SILOS. 105 

Connecting Round Silos with Barn. — The location of 
the silo with reference to other farm buildings has already 
been discussed. The silo must be easy to get at from the 
stable, and the silage, if possible, handled only once in 
being placed before the stock. A round silo is most con- 
veniently built just outside of the bam and connected with 
this by means of covered passageway. The method of 
joining silos to barns is illustrated in numerous pictures 
of silos given in this book. (See Fig. 22.) 

Other Forms of Round Silos, 

The various types of round, wooden silos have been 
described at some length in the preceding, because per- 
haps ninety per cent, of farmers who expect to build a 
silo will build one of this kind, either one of the more 
substantial and expensive original or modified Wisconsin 
silos, or a stave silo. In some cases it seems more de- 
sirable to build a round silo of other material than wood, 
viz., of either stone or brick. The general principles that 
must be ob'served in constructing silos of these materials 
are similar to those underlying the proper construction of 
wooden silos. In order to strengthen the wall of the silo, 
it is recommended^to bed in the wall between the doors % 
inch iron rods, bent to the curve of the silo circle, and 
about 12 feet long. The two ends should be turned short 
at right angles, so as to anchor better in the mortar. In 
deep stone silos, which rise more than 18 feet above the 
surface of the ground, it will be safest to strengthen the 
wall between the two lower doors with iron tie rods, and, 
if such a silo is built of boulders, it will be well to use 
rods enough to have a complete line or hoop around the 
silo about two feet above the ground, as represented in 
Fig. 23. 

Too great care cannot be taken in making the part of 
the wall below and near the ground solid, and especially 
its outer surface, so that it will be strong where the great- 
est strain will come. It is best also to dig the pit for the silo 
large enough so as to have plenty of room outside of the 



106 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 




REINFORCING RODS. 



107 



finished wall to permit the earth filled in behind to he 
very thoroughly tamped, so as to act as a strong backing 
for the wall. This is urged because a large per cent, of 
the stone foundations of wood silos have cracked more or 
less from one cause or another, and these cracks lead to 
the spoiling of silage. 




Fig, 23, Showing method of hedding iron rods in stone, 
trick, or concrete walls, to increase the strength. 



Flat quarry rock, like limestone, will make the strong- 
est silo wall, because they bond much better than boulders 
do, and when built of limestone they will not need. to be 
reinforced much with iron rods. It will be best even in 
this case, however, to use the iron tie rods between the 
lower two doors. (King.) 



108 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

Brick Silos. — In constructing a brick silo it will be well 
to guard the following points: Make the foundation of 
stone if practicable, and let the first course of brick come 
flush on the inside with the stone work. Bed a five-eighths 
inch iron hoop in the stone work in the upper part before 
laying the brick, in order to keep the pressure of brick 
from spreading the wall before the mortar becomes set and 
hard. Make a two-inch air space in the walls up to within 
one-third of the top. This will make a 14-inch wall of 
three courses of brick. If, however, the silo is to be over 
24 feet inside diameter, then a four-brick wall is really nec- 
essary one-third the way up, then the next third of three 
bricks and the last third of two bricks. The air space 
should be in the outer part of the wall. Iron tie rods 
should also be laid around in the wall between the doors, 
as recommended in the stone work. It is also important 
that the brick should be wet when laid, otherwise the 
mortar in which they are laid will be dried out too rapidly. 
The walls should be plastered over very smoothly with a 
coat of rich cement, one-fourth to one-half inch thick, 
and then every two or three years this should be well 
whitewashed with thin cement, to keep the wall protected 
from the effects of acid in the silage. King recommends 
that the floor jambs be made of 3x6's or 3x8's, rabbetted 
two inches deep to receive the door on the inside. The 
center of the jambs outside should be grooved and a 
tongue inserted projecting three-fourths of an inch out- 
ward to set back into the mortar, and thus secure a 
thoroughly air-tight joint between wall and jamb. The 
doors may be made of two layers of matched flooring with 
tarred paper between, and lag screw bolted to the jamb, 
so as to give a perfect smooth face next to the silage. 

Stone Silos. — The stone should have a wall about two 
feet thick below the surface of the ground, and this may 
be laid in the cheaper grades of cement. Above the sur- 
face a good grade of Portland cement should be used. A 
thickness of wall of 18 inches at the surface of the 
ground is desirable, but this may be gradually reduced 



SILOS IN THE BARN. 109 

to 12 inches at the top, keeping the inner surface of the 
silo perpendicular. It is important to have five-eighths inch 
iron rods laid in the wall at intervals between each door, 
to keep the walls from cracking or spreading before the 
mortar or cement is thoroughly set. These rods may be of 
several lengths, laid to the curve of the wall and the ends 
should always be turned and hooked together (see Fig. 
23) so that there will be no slippage during the contrac- 
tion and expansion. This holds true under all conditions;, 
whether it be in stone, brick or concrete silos. Fuller 
information regarding horizontal and vertical reinforce- 
ment is given in the chapter on Concrete Silos, pages 
124-137. 

It will be well to place silos a distance below the 
surface. This should not be. deep enough on level land to 
require great exertion to get out the silage. Under such 
circumstances four feet is deep enough. (Plumb.) 

Details concerning the construction of stone, brick, 
and cement silos are given in Prof. Woll's "Book on 
Silage," and in Bulletin No. 83 of Wisconsin Experiment 
Station by Prof. King, as well as in numerous other 
pamphlets, and we shall not take up further space here 
with the discussion thereof. The same holds true with 
all other forms of silo construction than those already 
explained. We wish to briefly mention, however, the type 
of silos built in the bay of the barn. 

Silos in the Barn. 

In the early days of silo construction many silos were 
built in the barn, generally rectangular in shape. Where 
necessary depth and room are available such silos can 
be built easily and economically, since lighter material in 
construction may be used and no roof will be required. 
The main objection is the difficulty of keeping the corners 
perfectly tight. This may be overcome by partially round- 
ing off the comers either with a square timber split diag- 
onally or by beveling the edge of a 10-inch plank and 



110 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



nailing across the corner. The space behind may be left 
open or filled in with dry dirt or sand. Great care must 
also be taken to strengthen the walls sufficiently to pre- 
vent the lateral pressure of the silage from springing 
them and thus admitting air. 

The round silo is without doubt the most satisfactory 
and we do not recommend the rectangular or octagonal 
forms except in cases where for the time being the cir- 
cumstances necessitate selecting one of these styles or 
going without altogether. 

The silos of the form mentioned may be strengthened 
at the corners by the arrangement recommended by Prof. 
Spillman and shown in Fig. 24. Half-inch bolts are used 




i 



Fig, 24, Cross section of studding at the corner of a rec- 
tangular silo. (Spillman.) 

to hold the 2x4 and 2x6 together. The bolts are not more 
than eighteen inches apart from the bottom up to about 
the middle of the studding. Above the middle they may 
be two feet apart; they may be reinforced by 30d. nails. 

Underground Silos, 

The underground silo or pit silo is not a new idea. 
This method of storing green feeds had been followed for 



UNDERGROUND SILOS. • 111 

many years before the advent of the modern silo or silo 
filler. In those sections of the country where the silo is 
just being adopted a number of these pits have been dug 
and used with varying success. 

There is some difference of opinion, however, as to the 
advisability of building an underground silo. Unless the 
soil is dry and very hard or has excellent drainage 
there would be the danger of water seeping into the hole 
and thus spoiling the silage. The likelihood of caving in 
either while building or after the first silage crop was 
taken out would also have to be overcome. Another 
objection to the underground silo is the inconvenience of 
getting the silage out of the hole, which would have to be 
deep enough to secure pressure for proper packing and 
keeping qualities. Ordinarily such a hole would be too 
deep to permit of a man throwing the silage out with a 
pitchfork and it would be necessary to have some kind 
of hoisting apparatus. This would be too laborious and 
inconvenient unless operated by a gasoline engine or 
other power which would, of course, increase the expense. 
A fourth objection is that poisonous gases are likely to 
accumulate in the bottom and render the silo dangerous 
to enter. Lowering a light would soon discover the 
presence of such carbonic acid gas, which if present would 
immediately put the light out. These gases are heavier 
than air and the air would have to be agitated to dispel 
them, since there is no air drainage in an underground 
silo. 

The claim has been made that the extra cost of getting 
the silage out of any underground silo would be more 
than offset by the saving effected in filling, but this 
hardly holds true, as with niodern machinery it is little 
more expensive to fill a silo above ground than one below 
the surface. 

The underground silo should be cemented to a thick- 
ness of two or three inches and the top should rise above 
the surface of the ground to shed water away. One 
really needs no cover but the cover is a convenience. 



112 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



Octagonal Silos, 

A number of octagonal silos have been built in recent 
years, and find favor with their owners in most instances. 
If properly put up and care taken to fasten the girts 
securely at the corners with plenty of spikes, the octag- 
onal silo is greatly superior to the square type, and has 
nearly every advantage of the round silo, and can readily 
be constructed by anyone handy with tools with the assist- 
ance of the ordinary farm help. 

The foundation should be of stone or brick as de- 
scribed for various other forms of silos, and should be 
laid out with proper dimensions for the size decided upon. 
Brief details are here given for an octagonal silo of about 
the same capacity as a round silo, 20 feet in diameter and 
of equal height. 




Fig, 25, Perspective, showing construction of frame, and 
double lining with paper between. The door is made of 
two thicTcnesses with paper between, as shown. 



OCTAGONAL SILO. 113 

If the foundation is laid out so that the corners are 
in the circumference of a circle 21 feet in diameter the 
horizontal girts will be about 8 feet long, and will be much 
stronger and better able to withstand the lateral pressure 
than the sides of a square silo of equal capacity. Details 
of construction are shown in the drawings. Figs. 25 and 26. 
The girts should be 3x8 inches and spiked at the corners 
with 6-inch spikes, up to nearly one-half of the height of 
the silo, and 2x8 in. the rest of the way, fastened with 20 
penny spikes. The girts should be 16 inches apart at the 
bottom for one-third of the height of the silo. They may 
be 18 inches apart the second third of the distance, and 
above that the distance between them can be increased 
till they are 2 feet or more at the very top. A double row 
may be used for a plate. Sound timber only should be 
used. Care should be taken to have the girts securely 
spiked at the corners, so that the joints will not give. 
The horizontal girt sections take the place of hoops in the 
round silo and must be strong. Not less than six or eight 
spikes should be used at each splice. One of the causes 
of failure in home-made silos of every kind is that the 
ordinary carpenter, who has probably never built a silo be- 
fore, has but a limited idea of the pressure on the sides 
of a silo 30 or more feet deep, and does not realize the 
disappointment and loss occasioned by a poorly built silo. 

A simple method of getting the walls perpendicular 
is to first lay the sill, which should be fastened to the 
wall securely, by means of bolts set in the wall, and then 
erect at each corner and on the inside a temporary post 
or scantling to serve as a guide, braced in position so that 
it is perpendicular both ways, and the girts then laid and 
spiked in position, one above the other. 

The lining, is, of course, put on up and down and 
should be matched and of good thickness, say 1^/4 or 1% 
if but one layer is used. If two layers, it need not be so 
thick, %-inch flooring, and the outer layer not necessarily 
matched. The corners should be fitted as nicely as possi- 
ble, and it is a good 'plan to block out the corners, as 

8 



114 



HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 



shown at Fig. 26, a, a, a, so that the tongues and grooves 
can be properly adjusted to each other. 

John Gould, a prominent dairy writer and lecturer, 
recommends, where one thickness of matched lumber is 
used in the above manner, that the lining be thoroughly 
coated on the outside with heavy application of coal tar, 
or other similar substance, so as to prevent the air pene- 
trating the pores of the lumber, and causing the silage to 
dry onto the inner surface. 

Any style of door can be used, but an effective con- 
tinuous door is shown in the illustration. If any of the 
girts be cut out to make the door space larger, the re- 
maining ones should be correspondingly reinforced. 

The making of a roof for such a silo is a simple mat- 
ter, and a dormer window will assist in filling, although 




Fig. 26, Showing method of laying sill and bolting same 
to foundation for an octagonal silo. 

a trap door may be used in case the filling be done with 
a blower. Any style of siding may be used. 

Such a silo if well built will be durable, satisfactory, 
have nearly all the advantages of a round silo, and in 



COST OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF SILOS. 



115 



addition will be a much more stable structure, reauiring 
no tightening of the hoops from time to time. 

Bills of material for a silo built to 21-foot circle and 
30 feet high are given below. The cost will, of course, 
vary with the locality. 

Bills of materials for Octagonal Silo 20x30 feet outside 
measurement: 

Foundation 10 perches 

Girts 110 feet 3x8 ) 8 or 16 foot 

900 feet 2x8 [ lengths. 

Rafters 230 feet 2x4x14 feet 

Siding 2500 feet 

Lining 2800 feet 1^/4 inch thick, matched 

Dormer Window 

Nails and spikes 300 lbs. 

Shingles 4 M 

Paint 6 gallons 

Cost of Different Kinds of Silos. 

The cost of a silo will depend on local conditions as 
to price of labor and materials; how much labor has to 
be paid for; the size of the silo, etc. The comparative 
data for the cost of two round silos, 13 and 25 feet in 
diameter, and 30 feet deep, is given by Prof. King, as 
shown in the following table: 



KINDS OF SILO. 


13 FEET INSIDE 
DIAMKTER. 


25 FEET INSIDE 
DIAMETER. 




Without 
roof. 


With 
roof. 


Without 
roof. 


With 
roof. 


Stone Silo 


$151 
243 

142 
131 
133 

168 
128 
127 
101 


$175 
273 

230 
190 
185 

185 
222 
183 
144 


$264 
437 

310 

239 
244 

308 
235 
136 
195 


$328 


Brick Silo 


494 


Brick-lined Silo, 4 inclies 
thick 


442 


Brick-lined, 2 inches thick 

Lathed and plastered Silo 

Wood Silo with galvanized 


369 
363 

432 


Wood Silo with paper 

Stave Silo 


358 

289 


Cheapest wood Silo 


240 







116 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

During the spring of 1895 Prof. WoU made inquiries 
in regard to the cost of silos of different kinds (not only- 
circular ones) built by farmers in different states in the 
Union. The results of this inquiry are summarized briefly 
below. 

The cheapest silos are those built in bays of barns, 
as would be expected, since roof and outside lining are 
here already at hand. Number of silos included, fourteen; 
average capacity, 140 tons; average cost of silos, $92, or 
65 cents per ton capacity. 

Next comes the square or rectangular wooden silos. 
Number of silos included, twenty-five; average capacity, 
194 tons; average cost of silos, $285, or $1.46 per ton 
capacity. 

The round silos follow closely the square wooden ones 
in point of cost. Only seven silos were included, all but 
one of which were made of wood. Average capacity, 237 
tons; average cost, $368, or $1.54 per ton capacity. The 
data for the six round wooden silos are as follows: 
Average capacity, 228 tons; average cost, 340, or $1.52 
per ton capacity. The one round cement silo cost $500, 
and had a capacity of 300 tons (dimensions: diameter, 30 
feet; depth, 21 feet); cost per ton capacity, $1.67. 

The stone or cement silos are the most expensive in 
first cost, as is shown by the data obtained. Number of 
silos included, nine; average capacity, 288 tons; average 
cost, $577, or $1.93 per ton capacity. 

The great difference in the cost of different silos of 
the same kind is apparent without much reflection. The 
range in cost per ton capacity in the 25 square wooden 
silos included in the preceding summary was from 70 cents 
to $3.60. The former figures were obtained with a 144-ton 
silo, 20x18x20 feet; and the latter with a 140-ton silo, built 
as follows: Dimensions, 14x28x18 feet; 2x12x18 feet stud- 
dings, set 12 inches apart; two thicknesses of dimension 
boards inside, with paper between, sheeting outside with 
paper nailed on studding; cement floor. Particulars are 



COST OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF SILOS. 117 

lacking as regards the construction of the first silo be- 
yond its dimensions. 

It may be In order to state, in comparing the average 
data for the cost of the different silo types, that the round 
silos were uniformly built better than the rectangular 
wooden silos included, and according to modem require- 
ments, while many of the latter were old and of compara- 
tively cheap construction, so that the figures cannot be 
taken to represent the relative value of rectangular and 
round silos built equally well. 

A good many figures entering into the preceding sum- 
maries are doubtless somewhat too low, if all labor put 
on the silo is to be paid for, for in some cases the cost 
of work done by the farmers themselves was not figured 
in with other expenses. As most farmers would do some 
of the work themselves, the figures given may, however, 
be taken to represent the cash outlay in building silos. 
In a general way, it may be said that a silo can be built 
in the bay of a barn for less than 75 cents per ton 
capacity; a round or a good square or rectangular wooden 
silo for about $1.50, and a stone or cement silo for about 
$2 per ton capacity, all figures being subject to variations 
according to local prices for labor and materials. 

Rennie, a Canadian writer, gives the following com- 
parative figures as to cost of silos: Round stave silos, 
75 cents per ton capacity; round wooden silos, $1.25 and 
cement silos, $1.25 to $1.50 per ton capacity. 

The cost of stave silos will of course vary with the 
kind of lumber used, cost of labor, and other expenses, 
as in case of other types of silos. It is evident that stave 
silos can as a rule be built cheaper than other kinds of 
silos, both from the fact that less material is used in 
their construction, and because the laboT: bill is smaller. 
One of the first stave silos described, built in Ontario, 
Canada, cost $75.00; capacity, 140 tons. Other and better 
built stave silos have been put up for $100 for a 100-ton 
silo, and this may be considered an average price for 
such a silo, made of white pine, hemlock or any lumber 



118 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

that is cheapest in the particular locality where the silo 
is to be built. If built of Southern cypress, and complete 
with conical roof and doors, the price of stave silos will 
in the North come to about $1.50 per ton capacity, small 
silos being a little dearer, and larger ones a little cheaper 
than this average figure. 

Estimating Material and Cost of Silos. 

Several writers on silo construction have published 
bills of materials used in the construction of silos of 
moderate sizes of the following three types: Wisconsin 
Improved Silo, Modified Wisconsin Silo, and Stave Silo. 
Farmers contemplating building a silo, can use these 
estimates for figuring out the approximate cost of silos 
of the three kinds under his conditions as to cost of 
materials and labor. The estimates are made for silos 
built in the open, on level land. On hillsides deeper walls 
may be made to advantage, and where the silo is located 
within a building no roof will be needed. Consequently 
various factors may alter the applications of these esti- 
mates, which are only offered as suggestive, with the 
hope they may prove helpful. The first three estimates 
of materials are published by Prof. Plumb, while the 
others have been furnished by Professors King and 
Withycombe. 

Estimate of Materials for Wisconsin 
Improved Silos. 

Size, 30 feet deep, 14 feet diameter. Capacity 90 tons. 

Brick— 3375 for foundation, 1 foot thick, 3 feet deep. 

Studs — 5t) pieces 2x4, 16 feet long. 

Studs — 50 pieces 2x4, 14 feet long. 

Flooring for doors — 32 feet, 4 matched. 

Sheeting— 3000 feet, Yz inch, resawed from 2x6—16 foot 
plank sawed 3 times, dressed one side to uniform thick- 
ness for inside lining of two layers. 

Lining — 1500 feet of same for outside. 



ESTIMATE OF JVEATERIALS. 119 

Tar building paper— 200 yards, water and acid-proof. 

Nails — 200 lbs. 8-penny; 200 lbs. 10-penny. 

Spikes— 20 lbs. 

Rafters — 22, 2x4, 10 feet long, for usual ridge roof. 

Sheeting for roof — 350 feet of 16 foot boards. 

Shingles— 3000. • - 

Shingle nails — 12 lbs. 

Dormer window for filling through. 

Paint — 7 gallons, providing two coats. 

Cement — 2 barrels, for cementing bottom. 

Estimate of Materials for a Modified 
Wisconsin Silo. 

Same capacity as preceding. 

Brick — 350 for foundation, 8 in. wide, 5 in. thick. 

Studs — 50 pieces 2x4, 16 ft. long. 

Studs — 50 pieces 2x4, 14 ft. long. 

Sheeting— 3000 ft. i^ in. re-sawed from 2x6, 16 ft. plank 
sawed three times, dressed to uniform thickness for inside 
lining of two layers. 

Tar building paper — 200 yards water and acid-proof. 

Nails — 150 lbs. 8 penny. 

Spikes— 12 lbs. 

No outer siding, roof or floor is figured on or provided 
for in this construction. 

Estimate of Materials for a Stave Silo. 

Size 12x28 ft., capacity 60 tons. 
Bricks — 1800 for foundation, 1 foot thick, 2 ft. deep. 
Staves — 77 2x6, 16 ft. dressed 4 sides. 
Staves — 77 2x6, 12 ft. dressed 4 sides. 
Rods — 10, 191/2 ft. long i/^ ^in. iron, with % threaded 
ends and nuts. 

Staples — 2 gross, i/^x2 in. 

Iron tighteners — 20 holding ends of hoops. 

Rafters — 2 2x6 pieces, 14 ft. long for roof center. 

Rafters — 2 2x6 pieces, 13 ft. long, for roof next center. 

Side rafters — 48 ft. 2x4 pieces. 



•120 HOW TO BXJIL.D A SILO. 

Roof sheeting — 170 ft. common. 
Tin sheeting— 196 ft. 
Cement for floor — 2 bbls. 

Estimate of Materials for a Wisconsin 
Improved Silo, 

Size 30 ft. deep, 20 ft. inside diameter, capacity 200 tons. 

Stone foundation — 7.5 perch. 

Studs— 2x4, 14 and 16 ft., 1491 ft. 

Rafters— 2x4, 12 ft, 208 ft. 

Roof boards — Fencing, 500 feet. 

Shingles— 6 M. 

Siding— Rabbeted, 2660 ft. 

Lining — Fencing, ripped, 2800 ft. 

Tarred paper — 740 lbs. 

Coal tar — 1 bbl. 

Hardware — $6.00. 

Painting (60 cents per square) $13.20. 

Cementing bottom — $5.00. 

Carpenter labor — (at $3 per M and board) $33.17. 

The estimated cost of the last silo is $246.39; it is an 
outside, wholly independent structure, except connected 
with the barn in the manner shown in Fig. 20, with en- 
trance and feeding chute toward the barn. 

Estimate of Materials for Stave Silo. 

12 ft. in diameter, 24 ft. deep, capacity 49 tons. 
1 2-3 yards of rock gravel. 
4 barrels of sand. 
1 barrel of cement. 
2260 ft. tongued and grooved staves. 
72 ft. 3x6, 24 ft. door frames. 

358 ft. % in. round iron for hoops and bolts, weight 
465 lbs. 
9 lugs. 
54 nuts. 
Preservative ($1.50). 



PRESERVATION OF SILOS. 121 

If the silo is constructed outside, materials for roof 
and painting are to be added to the preceding list. 

Although most of the foregoing descriptions of stave 
silos do not mention tongued and grooved staves, the 
latest practice indicates that, if properly done, it is a 
decided advantage to have the staves matched, also 
slightly beveled. The silo made in this- manner will not 
be so liable to go to pieces when empty. This is the chief 
objection to the stave silo, and numerous cases are on 
record where stave silos standing in exposed places have 
blown over when empty. It is recommended, therefore, 
that stave silos be attached to the barn by means of a 
feeding chute, and in the case of high or exposed silos it 
is well to make use of guy rods or wires in addition. 
Indeed, some manufacturers of stave silos now recommend 
these on some of their silos, and make provisions for 
them. 



Preservation of Silo. 

A silo building will not remain sound for many years 
unless special precautions are taken to preserve it. This 
holds good of all kinds of silos, but more especially of 
wooden ones, since cement coating in a stone silo, even if 
only fairly well made, will better resist the action of the 
silage juices than the wood-work will be able to keep 
sound in the presence of moisture, high temperature, and 
an abundance of bacterial life. 

In case of wooden silos it is necessary to apply some 
material which will render the wood impervious to water, 
and preserve it from decay. A great variety of prepara- 
tions have been recommended and used for this purpose. 
Coal tar has been applied by a large number of farmers, 
and has been found effective and durable. It may be put 
on either hot, alone or mixed with resin, or dissolved in 
gasoline. If it is to be applied hot, some of the oil con- 
tained in the tar must previously be burnt off. The tar 
is poured into an iron kettle, a handful of straw is ignited 



122 HOW TO BUILD A SILO. 

and then thrown into the kettle, which will cause the oil 
to flash and burn off. The tar is sufliciently burnt when 
it will string out in fine threads, a foot or more in length, 
from a stick which has been thrust into the blazing kettle 
and afterward plunged into cold water. The fire is then 
put out by placing a tight cover over the kettle. The 
kettle must be kept over the fire until the silo lining has 
been gone over. A mop or a small whisk broom cut short, 
so it is stiff, may serve for putting on the tar. 

Coal tar and gasoline have also been used by many 
with good success. About half a gallon of coal tar and 
two-thirds of a gallon of gasoline are mixed at a time, 
stirring it while it is being put on. Since gasoline is 
highly inflammable, care must be taken not to have any 
fire around when this mixture is applied. Asbestos paint 
has also been recommended for the preservation of silo 
walls, and would seem to be well adapted for this purpose. 

Many silos are preserved by application of a mixture 
of equal parts of boiled linseed oil and black oil, or one 
part of the former to two of the latter. This mixture, 
applied every other year, before filling time, seems to pre- 
serve the lining perfectly. In building round silos, it is 
recommended to paint the boards with hot coal tar, and 
placing the painted sides face to face. 

Manufacturers of stave silos and fixtures put up special 
preparations for preserving the silos, which they send out 
with the staves. These are generally simple compounds 
similar to those given in the preceding, and are sold to 
customers at practically cost price. 

Walls of wooden silos that have been preserved by 
one or the other of these methods will only keep sound 
and free from decay if the silos are built so as to insure 
good ventilation. Preservatives will not save a non-venti- 
lated silo structure from decay. 

Plastered wooden silos are preserved, as we have seen, 
by applying a whitewash of pure cement as often as found 
necessary, which may be every two or three years. The 
same applies to stone and cement silos. The degree of 



PRESERVATION OF SILOS. 123 

moisture and acidity in the silage corn will doubtless 
determine how often the silo walls have to be gone over 
with a cement wash; a very acid silage, made from im- 
mature corn, will be likely to soften the cement coating 
sooner than so-called sweet silage made from nearly 
mature corn. 

A considerable number of wood silos are in use that 
were not treated on the inside with any preservative or 
paint and have stood very well. Indeed, some writers 
maintain that if the silo is well protected on the outside, 
a stave silo receives little if any benefit from inside 
coatings. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 

Several types of concrete silos are now in successful 
use. Among tliem are the monolithic reinforced silos, both 
solid and hollow wall; the metal-lath plastered cement 
silos; and the cement block silos; and several modifica- 
tions of all three. In the extreme North the hollow wall 
type should be chosen to prevent freezing, otherwise the 
cost, fixed largely by local conditions, should be the de- 
ciding feature. 

In the past the high first cost of these forms of con- 
struction has been the chief factor against their more ex- 
tensive use, but this has been due to our insufiicient 
knowledge as to the best and most economical methods in 
handling material. The price of lumber has been steadily 
rising, while that of good Portland cement has been de- 
creasing, and good qualities can now be obtained at a fair 
price. It seems, therefore, to be generally conceded that 
the concrete or cement block silo will be the silo of the 
future? 

The chief advantages claimed for the concrete silos, 
when properly built, are that they are absolutely air-tight 
and water-tight, hence will neither shrink in hot, dry 
weather, nor swell up in damp weather; that they main- 
tain a more even temperature because concrete is a great 
non-conductor of heat and cold; that the silage acids that 
affect wood and metal have no effect on concrete; that 
they are vermin proof; that they will last practically for- 
ever and need no repairs, and that they are fire proof. 

Concrete grows stronger and tougher with age, outlast- 
ing almost every other known material. Reinforced con- 
crete, selected for great engineering projects such as long 
bridges, massive dams and lofty skyscrapers, is considered 
the strongest and most enduring construction known. 

124 



CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 



125 



"Reinforced concrete or concrete steel is very much 
stronger than ordinary concrete," say Bulletin No. 125 of the 
University of Wisconsin. "Reinforced concrete is concrete 
in which steel rods or wires are imbedded in such a way 
as to take the strain. By placing wire rods in the concrete 
it is possible to make the walls or beams much thinner or 
lighter than would otherwise be possible and obtain the 
required strength. By reinforcing the concrete-with steel 
much cement is saved. 

"If it were possible to have 
the work skillfully done a ce- 
ment silo 16 feet in diameter 
and 35 feet high could be built 
of reinforced concrete with 
walls only 2 or 3 inches thick 
and be abundantly strong. But 
labor sufficiently skilled to do 
this would cost too much, so 
that it would be cheaper to 
use twice as much cement; 
make wall 6 or 8 inches 
thick and use less skilled 
labor. If the work is care- 
fully done using ordinary la- 
bor it is practical to build 
silos 16 feet in diameter and 
35 feet high with 6 or 8 inch 
walls if the steel rod is laid 
in the wall every 2 or 3 feet." 

Reinforced concrete offers Fig- 27, Cement Silo 
great possibilities for silo ^^ f^^ ^^ Ohio Cut- 

, ., ,. r^^ , ^ , 't&f' CLi Experiment Sta- 

buildmg. The lateral pressure uon, Sao Paulo, Bra- 

on the walls when the silo is bH. 

filled is very great, but the circular shape renders it very 
easy to reinforce. The freezing of the silage has hereto- 
fore been the one disadvantage of solid walls^ especially 
in cold climates, but this has been largely overcome by 
machines now on the market that easily and successfully 




126 



CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 



build reinforced and continuous hollow walls. (See pages 
185 and 186 for special articles on frozen silage.) 

Tlie foundation, as in all other concrete structures, is 
very important. Not only must it serve as an anchor to 
protect the structure against wind pressure, but it must 
also be very strong and firm or the great weight upon it 
will cause it to settle unevenly, in which event the walls 
are liable to crack and so admit air; consequently, spoiled 
silage will be the result. Where there is a good clay 
floor, a concrete floor in the silo is not recommended. 

"The concrete silo when built as a monolith is prac- 
tically a unit. Its walls and roof are bound together by a 
net-work of steel, laid in the concrete so as to withstand 
pressure from the inside," says Wisconsin Bulletin No. 
214. "A silo built this way usually has walls six inches 
thick, which are reinforced in proportion to their size 
and capacity. The greater the height of a silo, the greater 
the pressure on the wall at the bottom." 

Any silo bonded by 
cement is subject to 
contraction and expan- 
sion due to changes 
of moisture and 
temperature and 
should, therefore, be 
reinforced both hori- 
zontally and vertical- 
ly. Perhaps the best 
reinforcement is se- 
cured by twisting No. 
9 telephone wire to- 
Beinforcing gether and forming a 
cable. This offers a 
rougher surface than the steel rods and forms a con- 
tinuous band, which is very effective. The reinforcement 
should be laid in the wall about one or two inches from 
the outside surface. Vertical reinforcement . should be 
used in silos 25 feet high or more and is also convenient 




Fig* 28, Horizontal 
around silo door. 



REINFORCEMENT FOR SILOS. 



127 



for binding the circular cables in place. Short three foot 
lengths of %-inch steel rods are most satisfactory for 
this purpose as they can be hooked together as the silo 
rises and not be in the way in raising the forms. The 
size and spacing of horizontal reinforcing needed for 
silos is shown in tables reproduced herewith from Wis- 
consin Bulletin No. 214. 

Amount of Reinforcement Needed fob Silos. 
Size and Spacing of Horizontal Reinforcement Around Silo. 



Distance in feet 


For silos 14 ft. to 18 
ft. in diameter, us- 
ing No. 9 wire. 


For silos 14 ft. to 18 
ft. in diameter, us- 
ing % inch mild 
steel rods. 


measured from top 
of silo. 


No. of 

wires in 

cable. 


Distance 

apart of 

cables. 


No. of 
rods. 


Distance 

apart of 

rods. 


0— 5 

5 — 10 .... 


2 
2 
2 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 


Inches. 
12 
10 

8 

8 

6 

6 

6 

4 




Inches. 
18 
18 


10—15 

15—20 

20—25 

25—30 

30—35 

35—40 


14 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 



Vertical Reinforcement. 





For Silos 14 ft. to 18 ft. diameter. 


Height of Silo in ft. 


No. of 

wires in 
each cable. 


Distance 

apart of 

cables. 


No. of 
rods. 


Distance 

apart of 

rods. 


25—30 


t 

8 


Inches. 

24 
24 
24 


1 
1 
1 


Inches. 
30 


30 — 35 


20 


35 — 40 


14 







Figure 29 illustrates how a very satisfactory continu- 
ous doorway can be made by forming concrete jambs on 
both sides of the opening, with a recess on inner side for 



128 



CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 



the 2-inch plank doors to fit against. The forms for these 
jambs should be erected between the inner and outer 
forms of the silo wall, and it will be seen that the 1-inch 
ladder rounds form the binder or horizontal reinforcing 
across the door opening and should be in position and 




Fig.i29, Continuous Doorway, with concrete §ambs, showing 
manner of anchoring to the vertical reinforcing, and posi- 
tion of planJc doors. 

—Courtesy Universal Portland Cement Co., Chicago. 

twisted around the vertical reinforcing rod. Spacers con- 
sisting of 2x4's at intervals of two feet, will hold the 
jamb forms apart rigidly and prevent them from bulging 
from the pressure of the concrete. The vertical jamb 
forms may be made in sections of any convenient length, 
preferably from six to twelve feet. 

Care should be taken to have the wooden forms abso- 
lutely vertical. All surfaces of wood which will come 
into contact with the concrete should be planed and oiled, 



ROOF AND DOOR REINFORCEMENTS. 129 

which will insure a smooth surface and prevent the wood 
from adhering to the concrete. Full illustrated details 
regarding constructions of this kind will be found in cata- 
logs issued by several cement manufacturers. 

Local conditions largely govern the cost of concrete 
silos. The ruling factors are the price of gravel and 
cement and the cost of labor. An investigation was made 

" Rods placed 2. 

2 ' ^O/VG 





Fig, 30, Showing method of tying roof to wall, and of re- 
inforcing across door opening. 

— Courtesy Wisconsin Bulletin, No. ^14. 

during the spring of 1911 by a large concrete manu- 
facturing company to ascertain the actual cost of 78 
monolithic silos scattered through Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Illinois, and Michigan. The total cost included material, 
labor, superintendence and all miscellaneous expenses in- 
curred in preparing the silos ready to receive the crops. 
Where sand and gravel were obtained on the farm the 
expense of hauling plus a fair price for materials was in- 
cluded. 'The average cost of the 78 silos was $2.30 per 
ton capacity. The 20 silos having capacity 100 tons or less 
cost $2.89 per ton. 32 silos with capacity from 100 to 200 
tons cost $2.38 per ton. The remaining 26 silos having 
capacity of more than 200 tons each, cost $2.18 per ton 
capacity. 

We quote from Bulletin No. 125 of the Wisconsin 
station. 

"A common type of form used in making a continuous 
wall or monolithic structure is illustrated in Fig, 31. A 
is the outside form and B the inside form. These forms 
are made as segments of the circle 6 or 10 feet in length 



130 



CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 




Fig* 31, Illustrates method of making form for construct- 
ing concrete walls. The forms are made of planJc and are 
made in sections 4 to 10 feet long, requiring 5 to 8 sec- 
tions to complete the circle. 

— Courtesy Wisconsin Experiment Station. 

and ll^ to 3 feet deep. A form is made by taking two 
pieces of plank 2x12 or 2x14, LL and UU, Fig. 31 A, saw- 
ing tliem out to the curvature of the circle. These are 
placed horizontally as girts and the short planks P are set 
vertically nailing them to the girts, LU. The form 31 B 
is made in the reverse of 31 A. 

"In building the wall, form B is set inside of form A 
and 6 to 12 inches from it depending on the thickness 
desired for the wall, and the concrete is filled in between 
the forms." 

The following printed matter has come to our attention 



METAL-LATH REINFORCED SILOS, 131 

and gives more complete information on cement silo con- 
struction: Bulletin No. 255, "Cement Silos in Michigan," 
published by State Experiment Station, East Lansing, 
Mich.; Farmers' Bulletin No. 405, "Cement Silos"; United 
States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and 
booklet "Concrete Silos," published by Universal Portland 
Cement Co., Chicago, 111. 



Metal-Lath Reinforced Silos. 

The metaWath plastered cement silo is considered 
next to the monolithic structure in practicability, from 
the standpoint of strength and economy. Where ma- 
terials used in construction are excessively high in price 
it will prove the cheapest type to erect because the walls 
are only about three inches thick. Skilled labor is re- 
quired for this type of silo. It is put up without forms, 
except for the doorposts, the rest of the cement being 
applied in the form of plaster to both the inside and the 
outside of the metal-lath. Care must be taken to prevent 
the various coats of cement from drying out rapidly, 
otherwise the next coat will not form a perfect union and 
the strength of the wall will be reduced. When properly 
constructed this silo will be found amply strong for the 
work required. 

Mr. George C. Wheeler of the Kansas Agricultural 
College Extension Service says: "The most economical 
way is to make an excavation two or three feet deep 
with a team and scraper. This excavation should have a 
diameter three or four feet greater than the diameter of 
the silo to be built. The bottom should be roughly leveled 
and a stout stake driven to locate the center of the pro- 
posed silo. The foundation for the silo wall is made by 
digging a circular trench 2 feet deep and 12 inches wide 



132 CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 

and filling it with concrete, the same methods being used 
in mixing and placing the concrete as for the foundation 
of the solid-wall silo. In digging this trench keep the 
inner side as smooth and true as possible, since the dirt 
is to be used in forming the inside of this part of the silo 
wall. The bottom of the trench should be widened on 
the inside to give a footing 16 or 18 inches wide. 

"The first round of the metal-lath which forms the 
chief reinforcement of this silo, must have its edge em- 
bedded 5 or 6 inches in the top of the foundation in 
order to insure a perfect union between the foundation 
and the wall proper. When the trench has been filled to 
within about 6 inches of the top and the concrete brought 
to an approximate level, the lath, which comes in strips 8 
feet long and 18 inches wide, 'should be stood on edge 
and concrete poured on both sides of it. Its position 
should be on a circle having a radius 2 inches greater 
than the inside radius of the finished silo. As the strips 
of lath are stood up and the mortar poured in, they 
should be carefully curved and their exact position de- 
termined. The strips of lath should be lapped about three 
inches at the ends, and when the circle is completed the 
wall outside of the lath should be leveled. The wall, 
while still green, should be smoothed up as much as pos- 
sible." 

After the foundation is finished, a four-or-five-plattorm 
scaffold must be erected inside, before any other work is 
done. The form for the continuous door frame should 
then be built on the ground, complete with all reinforcing, 
and raised to position. 2x4 studding, with plates on top, 
are then placed in position and fastened. The 24-gauge 
expanded metal or metal-lath is then tacked to the inside 
with double-pointed tacks, beginning at the top and at the 
door post. Each strip of lath should be tacked first in 
the middle and should conform to the circular shape of 



ALL-METAL SILOS. 133 

the silo before the ends are tacked. After the several 
layers of cement or plaster have been applied and are 
dry the studding may be removed and additional hori- 
zontal reinforcement in the form of strands of heavy wire 
should be placed around the silo, care being taken to 
anchor same to vertical reinforcement in the door posts 
before any mortar is placed. A silo 16 by 30 feet will 
require 150 pounds of additional wire reinforcement. The 
silo should be plastered on the outside at least one inch 
in thickness. A metal-lath silo of the above dimensions, 
of about 120 tons capacity, can be built for from $225 to 
$275 The cost of these silos has not exceeded three 
dollars a ton capacity in any case, the average being con- 
siderably less than this amount. 

Full information and illustrations regarding the con- 
struction of the cement or plastered silos will be found 
in the bulletin issued May, 1912, by the Kansas Agri- 
cultural College, entitled "Cement Silo Construction." 

All-metal silos, have lately been introduced in the 
Western markets. They are made of curved sections of 
14 16 and 18-gauge galvanized steel, about 2 by TVs feet 
in' size, flanged and bolted together three inches apart 
with a weather-proof cement packing between. It is 
claimed that this arrangement permits increased silage 
capacity to be added as needed. Definite information as 
to the action of silage acids on the metal is not known. 

Cement Blocks. 

The Wisconsin Experiment Station Bulletin Na 125 
has the following regarding cement block silos: 

Cement blocks are now made in a great variety of 
forms and these are being used to some extent in silo 
construction. Walls built of cement blocks, however, are 
not so strong as are walls in which the concrete is built 
in place, making what is known as a monolithic structure. 
When cement blocks are used it is necessary to use bands 



134 CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILQS. 

or rods in the wall laying them between the courses the 
same as in the stone or brick construction. 

Cement blocks to be used in silo construction are 
usually made with curved sides, the curvature being that 
of the silo in question. A common type of block for this 
purpose is illustrated in Fig. 32. The blocks are made 
hollow, holes being left at H and H, The blocks are ma*&e 
with a dovetailed tenon at one end, as at T, and a dove- 
tailed mortise at the other end, as at M, so that when 
the blocks are laid on the wall they interlock. The blocks 
are sometimes made with a small groove near the outside 
edge as G, and on every third or fourth course a small 




Fig, 32, Illustrates a type of concrete hloclc used in silo 
construction. H H are Jioles left in Mocks. T and M 

* are dove-tailed tenon and mortise so made that hlocJcs 
interlock when laid on the wall. G is a groove made in 
hlocJc to inibed iron rod for reinforcing the wall. ■ 

— Courtesy Wisconsin Experiment Station. 

rod (i/^-inch iron) is laid in this groove and embedded in 
the masonry. 

The cement block walls can be built more cheaply than 
can the monolithic walls, providing the building is not 
more than a mile or two from the factory where the 
blocks are made, and in some instances the manufacturers 
will move out their forms, mixers and other utensils for 
making cement blocks and make the blocks at the building 
site and still build more cheaply than the monolith can 
be built. It is possible to do this because the work can 



CEMENT BLOCKS. 



135 



be done with greater facility on the ground level than up 
in the air on scaffolding. Cement blocks are turned out 
rapidly in a factory where all the facilities are at hand. 

Cement blocks are usually made of finer materials than 
are the solid monolithic walls. The blocks are made of 
sand and cement; or if any gravel is used, it is very fine 
gravel, whereas, in the continuous wall, monolithic con- 
struction, coarser gravel or crushed stone is more com- 
monly used. This is one of the reasons why the mono- 
lithic wall is stronger than the block wall. 

The continuous wall may be made with holes or spaces 
the same as the holes H, H, in the block. Fig. 32. This 
is accomplished by using short pieces of plank with 
smooth sides tapering toward one end, as shown in Fig. 33. 
These tapering wood blocks are set in the forms two or 




Fig, 33, Illustrates a tapering wood llocTc used in maMng^ 
liollow concrete ivalls. 

— Courtesy Wisconsin Experiment' Station. 



three inches apart near the center of the wall and the 
concrete filled. in around them. After the first "set," that 
is, after a few hours the tapering blocks are drawn out 
leaving the hollow walls, and the forms are raised the 
next day or the day following and the process repeated. 
To Maintain the Cement Lining. — The Cement Lining 



136 CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 

or the Cement Block, if not properly cared for, is certain 
to become porous or to crack, due to the action of the 
acids in the silage. All such linings should be treated to 
a wash of cement once about every two years. A good 
wash is made by mixing Portland cement with water, 
making the mixture the consistency of whitewash, and 
applying it with a whitewash brush -or spray pump, 
mixing only a gallon or two at a time and applying it at 
once. 

Good block silos can be put up with home-made blocks 
and by home labor, but an experienced contractor is 
recommended, if convenient. No blocks that are cracked, 
broken or crumbly, should be used, and all blocks should 
have ' good water-resisting qualities. A small amount of 
water placed on the surface, if readily absorbed, indicates 
a poor block for silo purposes. 

Mr. J. O. Bailey, Kirksville, Mo., writing to the State 
Board of Agriculture, gives an instructive description of 
the building of his 16x32 silo. 

"I made the blocks myself — size 8 by 8 by 24 inches, 
curved enough so that 25 of them would lay a complete 
circle 16 feet in diameter in the clear. Proportioned the 




Fig, 34. This form of hlock requires less material and does 
not freeze so readily as the solid hlocJc. Note manner of 
reinforcing 'hy %-in. iron hinders. 

cement and sand 1 to 5, i. e., 1 part cement to 5 parts 
sand. It took about 50 yards of sand and 205 sacks of 
cement. I also laid a No. 9 wire between each layer of 
blocks up twenty feet. 



CONTINUOUS DOOR OPENING. 



137 



"I had a mason to superintend making of the blocks, 
but any one with average intelligence can make the blocks 
as good as a mason. The main thing is to get sand and 
cement thoroughly mixed. It does not want to be too wet, 
just moist enough to pack good in the mold. After the 
blocks have been made half a day or so, they should be 
wet every day; this keeps them from drying too fast and 
from cracking. 

"I hired a mason to lay up the blocks; this is the only 
skillful work about it, they have got to be laid up true. 




Fig, 35, Continuous door opening for concrete hlocTc silo. 
View shows the manner of fastening reinforcing rods to 
the door frames, also of anchoring rods around a hloclc 
instead of lapping. 

— Courtesy Universal Portland Cement Co., Chicago. 



I did not cement inside of silo, 
around the outside. 



My silage spoiled some 



138 



CONCRETE OR CEMENT SILOS. 



"Two men can make 90 to 100 blocks a day after they 
become accustomed to it, I used a wood mold which any 
carpenter can make and will not cost over $1 or $1.50, at 
most. 

"Now as to the doors. I used 2x6 plank for the jambs 
and set them flush with the outside of the wall; as the 
blocks are 8 inches thick there are two inches on inside 
for door to set in. The doors are ship-lap double with a 
good quality of tar paper in between, also a layer of tar 
paper on the side that sets against the jamb. The doors 
are 2 feet square and every 4 feet. Total cost about 
$225.00. The cost for labor to fill it r estimate at $50.00.'* 

"This is a cost of nearly $2.00 per ton capacity, but 
inasmuch as it will last a great many years it may be 
the cheapest kind in the long run." 



CHAPTEK VII. 

SILAGE CROPS. 

Indian Corn. — Indian corn is, as has already been 
stated, the main silage crop in this country, and is likely 
to always remain so. Before explaining the filling of the 
silo and the making of silage, it will be well, therefore, 
to state briefly the main conditions which govern the pro- 
duction of a large crop of corn for the silo, and to examine 
which varieties of corn are best adapted for silage 
making. 

Soils best adapted to corn culture and preparation of 
land. — The soils best adapted to the culture of Indian 
corn are well-drained medium soils, loams or sandy loams, 
in a good state of fertility. Corn will give best results 
coming after clover. The preparation of the land for 
growing corn is the same whether ear corn or forage is 
the object. Fall plowing is practiced by many successful 
corn growers. The seed is planted on carefully prepared 
ground at such a time as convenient and advisable. Other 
things being equal, the earlier the planting the better, 
after the danger of frost is ordinarily over. "The early 
crop may fail, but the late crop is almost sure to fail." 
After planting, the soil should be kept pulverized and 
thoroughly cultivated. Shallow cultivation will ordinarily 
give better results than deep cultivation, as the former 
method suffices to destroy the weeds and to preserve the 
soil moisture, which are the essential points sought in 
cultivating crops. The cultivation should be no more fre- 
quent than is necessary for the complete eradication of 
weeds. It has been found that the yield of corn may be 
decreased by too frequent, as well as by insufficient culti- 
vation. The general rule may be given to cultivate as 
often, but no oftener, than is necessary to kill the weeds, 
or keep the soil pulverized. 

139 



140 SILAGE CROPS. 

The cultivator may be started to advantage as soon as 
the young plants break through the surface, and the soil 
kept stirred and weeds destroyed, until cultivation, is no 
longer practicable. 

Varietres of corn for the silo. — The best corn for the 
silo, in any locality, is that variety which will be reason- 
ably sure to mature before frost, and which produces a 
large amount of foliage and ears. The best varieties for 
the New England States are the Learning, Sanford, and 
Flint corn; for the Middle States, Learning, White and 
Yellow Dent; in the Central and Western States, the 
Learning, Sanford, Flint and White Dent will be apt to 
give the best results, while in the South, the Southern 
Horse Tooth, Mosby Prolific and other large dent corns 
are preferred. 

For Canada, Rennie gives, as the varieties best adapted 
for the silo; for Northern Ontario, North Dakota and 
Compton's Early Flint; for Central Ontario, larger and 
heavier yielding varieties may be grown, viz.. Mammoth 
Cuban and Wisconsin Earliest White Dent. It is useless 
to grow a variety for silage which will not be in a firm 
dough state by the time the first frosts are likely to 
appear. 

In the early stages of siloing corn in this country, the 
effort was to obtain an immense yield of fodder per acre, 
no matter whether the corn ripened or not. Large yields 
were doubtless often obtained with these big varieties, 
although it is uncertain that the actual yields ever came 
up to the claims made. Bailey's Mammoth Ensilage Corn, 
"if planted upon good corn land, in good condition, v/ell 
matured, with proper cultivation," was guaranteed to pro- 
duce from forty to seventy-five tons of green fodder to 
the acre, "just right for ensilage." We now know that 
the immense Southern varieties of corn, when grown to an 
immature stage, as must necessarily be the case in North- 
ern States, may contain less than ten per cent, of dry 
matter, the rest (more than nine-tenths of the total 
weight) being made up of water. This is certainly a re- 



YIELDS OF SOUTHERN AND MAINE CORN. 141 

markable fact, when we remember that skim-milk, even 
when obtained by the separator process will contain 
nearly ten per cent, of solid matter. 

In speaking of corn .intended to be cut for forage at 
an immature stage. Prof. Robertson, of Canada, said at 
a Wisconsin Farmers' Institute, "Fodder corn sowed 
broadcast does not meet the needs of milking cows. Such 
a fodder is mainly a device of a thoughtless farmer to 
fool his cows into believing that they have been fed, when 
they have only been filled up," The same applies with 
equal strength to the use of large, immature Southern 
varieties of fodder, or for the silo, in Northern States. 

In comparative variety tests with corn in the North, 
Southern varieties have usually been found to furnish 
larger quantities per acre of both gi^een fodder and total 
dry matter in the fodder than the smaller Northern varie- 
ties. As an average of seven culture trials. Professor 
Jordan thus obtained the following results at the Maine 
Station. 

COMPARATIVE YIELDS OF SOUTHEEN CORN AND MAINE FIELD 
CORN GROWN IN MAINE, 1888-1893. 



Maximum 
Minimum 
Average.. 



SOUTHERN CORN. 



Green 
Fod- 
der. 



46,340 
26,295 
34,761 



Dry 
Substance 



Per 



16.58 
12.30 
14.50 



6,237 
3,234 
5,036 



Digestible 
Matter 



Cent. 



Lbs, 



MAINE FIELD CORN. 



Green 
Fod- 
der. 



3,923 29,400 
2,102 14,212 
3,251122,269 



Dry 
Substance. 



Per 

Cent. 



25.43 
13.55 

18.75 



Lbs. 



7,064 
2,415 
4,224 



Digrestible 
Matter. 



Cent. 



4,945 
1,715 
3,076 



The average percentage digestibility of the dry sub- 
stance is 65 per cent, for the Southern corn, and 72 per 
cent, for the Maine field corn, all the results obtained for 
the former varieties being lower than those obtained for 
the latter. While the general result for the five years, so 
far as the yield of digestible matter is concerned, is 



142 SILAGE CROPS. 

slightly in favor of the Southern varieties, the fact should 
not be lost sight of that an average of 6^ tons more of 
material has annually to be handled over several times, 
in case of these varieties of corn, in order to gain 175 
pounds more of digestible matter per acre; we therefore 
conclude that the smaller, less watery, variety of corn 
really proved the more profitable. 

At other Northern stations similar results, or results 
more favorable to the Northern varieties, have been ob- 
tained, showing that the modern practice of growing only 
such corn for the silo as will mature in the particular 
locality of each farmer, is borne out by the results of 
careful culture tests. 

Time of cutting corn for the silo. — In order to deter- 
mine at what stage of growth corn had better be cut when 
intended for the silo, it is necessary to ascertain the 
amount of food materials which the corn plant contains 
at the different stages, and the proportion of different in- 
gredients at each stage. From careful and exhaustive 
studies of the changes occurring in the composition of the 
corn plant, which have been conducted both in this coun- 
try and abroad, we know that as corn approaches maturity 
the nitrogenous or flesh-forming substances decrease in 
proportion to the other components, while the non-nitrog- 
enous components, especially starch (see Glossary), in- 
crease very markedly; this increase continues until the 
crop is nearly mature, so long as the leaves are still 
green. Several experiment stations have made investi- 
gations in regard to this point. As an illustration we 
give below data obtained by Prof, Ladd, in an investiga- 
tion in which fodder corn was cut and analyzed at five 
different stages of growth, from full tasseling to maturity. 

The data given below show how rapidly the yield of 
food materials increases with the advancing age of the 
corn, and also that increase during the later stages of 
growth comes largely on the nitrogen-fed extract (starch, 
sugar, etc.). 



TABLE OF CHEMICAL CHANGES. 



143 



CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE COEN CROP, 



YIELD PER ACRE. 



Gross Weight 

Water in the Crop . . . 

Dry Matter 

Ash 

Crude Protein 

Crude Fiber 

Nitrogen-free Extract 

(starch, sugar, etc.) 

Crude Fat 



Tas- 
seled, 
July 30 



Pounds 
18045 
16426 
2619 
138.9 
239.8 
514.2 

653.9 

72.2 



Silked, 
Aug-. 9 



Pounds 
25745 
22666 
3078 
201.3 
436.8 
872.9 

1399.3 
167.8 



Milk, 
Aug-. 21 



Pounds 

32600 

27957 

4643 

232.2 

478.7 

1262.0 

2441.3 

228.9 



Glazed, 

Sept. 7 



Pounds 

32295 

25093 

7202 

302.5 

643.9 

2755.9 

3239.8 
260.0 



Ripe, 

Sept. 2 3 



Pounds 

28460 

20542 

7918 

364.2 

677.8 

1734.0 

4827.6 
B14.3 



The results as to this point obtained at several ex- 
periment stations have been summarized and are given 
in the following table, showing the increase ■ in food in- 
gredients during the stages previous to maturity. 

We thus find that the largest amount of food ma- 
terials in the corn crop is not obtained until the corn is 
well ripened. When a corn plant has reached its total 
growth in height it has, as shown by results given in 
the last table, attained only one-third to one-half of the 
weight of dry matter it will gain if left to maturity; 
hence we see the wisdom of postponing cutting the corn 
for the silo, as in general for forage purposes until rather 
late in the season- when it can be done without danger 
of frost. 

The table given in the preceding, and our discussion 
so far, have taken into account only the total, and not the 
digestible components of the corn. 

It has been found through careful digestion trials 
that older plants are somewhat less digestible than young 
plants. There is, however, no such difference in the 
digestibility of the total dry matter or its components as 
is found in the total quantities obtained from plants at 
the different stages of growth, and the total yields of 



144 



SILAGE CROPS. 



digestible matter in the corn will therefore he greater 
at maturity, or directly before this time, than at any 
earlier stage of growth. Hence we find that the general 
practice of cutting corn for the silo at the time when the 
com is in the roasting-ear stage, when the kernels have 
become rather firm, and are dented or beginning to glaze, 
is good science and in accord with our best knowledge on 
the subject. 

INCREASE IN FOOD ■ INGREDIENTS FROM TASSELING TO MATURITY. 





Variety. 


Stag-e of Mauu'ity. 


Gain in per cent. 

between first 
and last ciitting-. 


EXPERIMENT 
STATION. 


First 


Last 

Cutting-. 


OS 


5"S 


CD 


IS 
8S 


Cornell, N. Y. 


Pride of the 
















Xorth 


Bloom 


Mature 


150 


90 


129 


169 


iC iC i( 


Pride of the 




Nearly 












North 


a 


mature 


217 


134 


374 


300 


Geneva, JST. Y. 


King PhilijD 


Tasseled 


Mature 


389 


183 


335 


462 


New Hamp. 


Av.of 4var. 


" 


Glazed 


112 


50 


84 


130 


Pennsylvania 


Av.of 10 var. 


" 


Mature 


155 








Vermont 


Av.of 2 var. 


'■' 


Glazed 


122 


50 








" " " " 


Bloom 


a 


204 
193 


81 

98 


230 




Average of all trials 




265 



Other reasons why cutting at a late period of growth 
is preferable in siloing corn are found in the fact that 
the quality of the .silage made from such corn is much 
better than that obtained from green immature corn, and 
in the fact that the sugar is most abundant in the corn 
plant in the early stages of ear development, but the 
loss of non-nitrogenous components in the silo falls first 
of all on the sugar, hence it is the best policy to post- 
pone cutting until the grain is full-sized and the sugar has 
largely been changed to starch. 

It does not do, however, as related under Uniformity 



METHODS OF PLANTING CORN. 145 

in the first cliapter to delay the cutting so long that the 
corn plant becomes too dry, for the reason stated. Silage 
does not spoil when too wet, but will mold if too dry. 
Experience will be the best guide, but the foregoing pages 
should enable the reader to form the right idea as to 
time for filling, which to secure the best results, is nearly 
as important as to have material with which to fill the 
silo. 

Methods of Planting Corn. — When the corn crop is 
intended for the silo, it should be planted somewhat closer 
than is ordinarily the case when the production of a large 
crop of ear corn is the primary object sought. Thin seed- 
ing favors the development of well-developed, strong 
plants, but not the production of a large amount of green 
forage. The number of plants which can be brought to 
perfect development on a certain piece of land depends 
upon the state of fertility of the land, the character of 
the season, especially whether it is a wet or dry season, 
as well as other factors, hence no absolute rule can be 
given as to the best thickness of planting corn for the 
silo. Numerous experiments conducted in different parts 
of the country have shown, however, that the largest 
quantities of green fodder per acre can ordinarily be ob- 
tained by planting the corn in hills three or even two 
feet apart, or in drills three or four feet apart, with plants 
six or eight inches apart in the row. 

It makes little if any difference, so far as the yield 
obtained is concerned, whether the corn is planted in 
hills or in drills, when the land is kept free from weeds 
in both cases, but it facilitates the cutting considerably 
to plant the corn in drills if this is done by means of a 
corn harvester or sled cutter, as is now generally the 
case. The yield seems more dependent on the number 
of plants grown on a certain area of land than on the 
arrangement of planting the corn. Hills four feet each 
way, with four stalks to the hill, will thus usually give 
about the same yield as hills two feet apart, with stalks 
two stalks to the hill or drills four feet apart with stalks 

10 



146 SILAGE CROPS. 

one foot apart in the row, etc. The question of planting 
corn in hills or in drills is therefore largely one of greater 
or less labor in keeping the land free from weeds by the 
two methods. This will depend on the character of the 
land; where the land is uneven, and check-rowing of the 
■corn difficult, or when the land is free from weeds, drill 
planting is preferable, while, conversely, on fields where 
this can be done, the corn may more easily and cheaply 
be kept free from weeds if planted in hills and check- 
rowed. Since one of the advantages of the silo is econom- 
ical production and preservation of a good quality of feed, 
the economy and certainty in caring for the growing 
•crop is of considerable importance, and generally planting 
in hills not too far apart will be found to facilitate this, 
especially during wet season. 

Corn is planted in hills or in drills, and not broadcast, 
whether intended for the silo, or for production of ear 
•corn; when sown broadcast, the corn cannot be kept free 
from weeds, except by, hand labor. More seed is moreover 
required, the plants shade each other and will therefore 
not reach full development, from lack of sufficient sunshine 
and moisture, and a less amount of available food con- 
stituents per acre will be produced. 

Other Silage Crops, 

Clover. Clover is second to Indian corn in impor- 
tance as a silage crop. We are but beginning to appreciate 
the value of clover in modern agriculture. It has been 
shown that the legumes, the family to which clover 
belongs, are the only common forage plants able to con- 
vert the free nitrogen of the air into compounds that may 
he utilized for the nutrition of animals. Clover and other 
legumes, therefore, draw largely on the air for the most 
expensive and valuable fertilizing ingredient, nitrogen, and 
lor this reason, as well as on account of their deep roots, 
which b'Ving fertilizing elements up near the surface, they 
enrich the land upon which they grow. Being a more 



CLOVER SILAGE. - 147 

nitrogenous food than corn or the grasses, clover sup- 
plies a good deal of the protein compounds required by- 
farm animals for the maintenance of their bodies and for 
the production of milk, wool or meat. By feeding clover, 
a smaller purchase of high-priced concentrated feed stuffs, 
like flour-mill or oil-mill refuse products, is therefore ' ren- 
dered necessary than when corn is fed; on account of its 
high fertilizing value it furthermore enables the farmer 
feeding it to maintain the fertility of his land. 

When properly made, clover silage is an ideal feed 
for nearly all kinds of stock. Aside from its higher pro- 
tein contents it has an advantage over corn silage in 
point of lower cost of production. A Wisconsin dairy 
farmer who has siloed large quantities of clover estimates 
the cost of one ton of clover silage at 70 cents to $1, 
against $1 to $1.25 per ton of corn silage. His average 
yield per acre of green clover is about twelve tons. 

Clover silage is superior to clover hay on account of 
its succulence and greater palatability, as well as its 
higher feeding value. The last-mentioned point is mainly 
due to the fact that all the parts of the clover plant are 
preserved in the silo, with a small unavoidable loss in 
fermentation, while in hay-making, leaves and tender 
parts, which contain about two-thirds of the protein com- 
pounds, are often largely lost by abrasion. 

Clover may easily and cheaply be placed in a modern 
silo and preserved in a perfect condition. The failures 
reported in the early stages of silo filling were largely 
due to the faulty construction of the silo. Clover does not 
pack as well as the heavy green corn, and therefore, re- 
quires to be cut and weighted, or calls for greater depth 
in the silo, in order that the air may be sufficiently 
excluded. 

The clover should not be left to wilt between cutting 
and siloing, and the silo should be filled rapidly, so as to 
cause no unnecessary losses by fermentation. 

The different species of clover will prove satisfactory 
silo crops; ordinary red or medium clover is most used 



148 



SILAGE CROPS. 



in NorttLwestern States, along with mammotli clover; 
the latter matures later than medium or red clover, and 
may therefore be siloed later than these. 

When to Cut Clover for the Silo. — The yield of food 
materials obtained from clover at different stages of 
growth has been studied by a number of scientists. The 
following table giving the results of an investigation con- 
ducted by Professor Atwater will show the total quan- 
tities of food materials secured at four different stages 
of growth of red clover. 



YIELD PER ACRE OF RED CLOVER IX POUNDS. 



STAGE OF 


Green 


Dry 


Crude 


Crude 


N-free 


Crude 




CUTTING. 


Weight 


Matter 


Protein 


Fiber. 


Extract 


Fat. 




Just before 
















bloom 


3,570 


1,385 


198 


384 


664 


24 


115 


Full bloom . . . 


2,650 


1,401 


189 


390 


682 ■• 


33 


107 


Nearlv out 
















of bloom . . . 


4,960 


1,750 


230 


523 


837 


31 


129 


Nearlv ripe. . . 


3,910 


1,523 


158 


484 


746 


36 


99 












gs3ins'ie-3!? 







Professor Hunt obtained 3,600 pounds of hay per acre 
from clover cut in full bloom, and 3,260 pounds when 
three-fourths of the heads were dead. The yields of dry 
matter in the two cases were 2,526 pounds, and 2,427 
pounds respectively. All components, except crude fibre 
(see Glossary), yielded less per acre in the second cut- 
ting, Jordan found the same result, comparing the yields 
and composition of clover cut when in bloom, some heads 
dead, 'and heads all dead, the earliest cutting giving the 
maximum jield of dry matter, and of all components ex- 
cept crude fibre. 

The common practice of farmers is to cut clover for 
the silo when in full bloom, or when the first single heads 
are beginning to wilt, that is, when right for hay-making, 
and we notice that the teachings of the investigations 
made are in conformity with this practice. 

Many farmers are increasing the value of their corn 



CLOVER FOR SUMMER SILOS. 149 

silage by the addition of clover. A load of clover to a 
load or two loads of well-matured corn is a good mixture. 

Clover for Summer Silage. 

By filling the clover into the silo at midsummer, or be- 
fore, space is utilized that would otherwise be empty; 
the silage will, furthermore, be available for ' feeding in 
the latter part of the summer and during the fall, when 
the pastures are apt to run short. This makes it pos- 
sible to keep a larger number of stock on the farm than 
can be the case if pastures alone are to be relied upon, and 
thus greatly facilitates intensive farming. Now that stave 
silos of any size may be easily and cheaply put up, it 
will be found very convenient at least on dairy farms, 
to keep a small separate silo for making clover silage 
that may be fed out during the summer, or at any time 
simultaneously with the feeding of corn silage. This 
extra silo may also be used for the siloing of odd lots of 
forage that may happen to be available (see page 156). 
It is a good plan in siloing clover or other comparatively 
light crops in rather small silos, to put a layer of^corn 
on top that will weight down the mass below, and secure 
a more thorough packing and thereby also a better quality 
of silage. 

In several instances where there has still been a 
supply of clover silage in the silo, green corn has been 
filled in on top of the clover, and the latter has been 
sealed and thus preserved for a number of years. Corn 
silage once settled and "sealed," will also keep perhaps 
indefinitely when left undisturbed in the silo, without 
deteriorating appreciably in feeding value or palatability. 

Says a Canadian dairy farmer: "If we were asked 
for our opinion as to what will most help the average 
dairy farmer, I think we would reply: Knowledge of a 
balanced ration, the Babcock test, and a summer silo; 
then varying the feed of individual animals according 
to capacity; as shown by scales and close observation." 
Prof. Neale and others recommended the use of scarlet 



150 SILAGE CROPS. 

clover for summer silage, for Delaware and States under 
similar climatic conditions. 

Prof. Cottrell writing for Kansas farmers, says: 
"Silage will keep as long as the silo is not opened, and 
has been kept in good condition for seven years. This 
is a special advantage for Kansas dairymen, as in years 
of heavy crops the surplus can be stored in silos for 
years of drouth, making all j^ears good crop years for 
silo dairymen." 

Alfalfa (lucerne) is the great, coarse forage plant of 
the West, and during late years, it has been grown con- 
siderably in the Northern and Central States. In irrigated 
districts it will yield more food materials per acre of land 
than perhaps any other crop. Four to five cuttings, each 
yielding a ton to a ton and a half of hay, are common in 
these regions, and the yields obtained are often much 
higher. In humid regions three cuttings may ordinarily 
be obtained, each of one to one and a half tons of hay. 

Much has been written regarding the mixture of alfalfa 
with other crops in the silo to secure a balanced ration. 
It is true that there is perhaps no crop better than alfalfa 
for balancing corn silage. But the best practice among 
"Western feeders and colleges is to supply this ration in 
the dry form. In this way it furnishes the necessary 
roughage to neutralize the succulence of the silage, and 
enables the feeder to balance his feed to suit the needs 
of different animals or different classes of stock. 

Alfalfa finds its greatest friend in the silo in seasons 
when for any reason it cannot be properly cured. It may 
then be siloed and preserved to great advantage. 

While the large bulk of the crop is cured as hay, alfalfa 
is nevertheless of considerable importance as a silage crop 
in dairy sections of the Western States. As with red 
clover, reports of failure in siloing alfalfa are on record, 
but first-class alfalfa silage can be readily made in deep, 
modern silos, when the crop is cut when in full bloom, 
and the plants are not allowed to wilt much before being 
run through a cutter and siloed. In the opinion of the 



cow PEAS. 151 

dairymen who have had large experience in siloing alfalfa, 
sweet alfalfa silage is more easily made than good alfalfa 
hay. 

What has been said in regard to the siloing of clover 
refers to alfalfa as well. Alfalfa silage compares favor- 
ably with clover silage, both in chemical composition and 
in feeding value. It is richer in flesh-forming substances 
(protein) than clover silage, or any other kind of silage, 
and makes a most valuable feed for farm animals, espe- 
cially young stock and dairy cows. 

Cow Peas are to the South what alfalfa is to the 
West, and when properly handled make excellent and 
most valuable silage. The cow peas are sown early in 
the season, either broadcast, about 1^^ bushels to the 
acre and turned under with a one-horse turning plow, or 
drilled in rows about twO' feet apart. They are cut with 
a mower when one-half or more of the peas on the vines 
are fully ripe, and are immediately raked in windrows 
and hauled to the silo, where they are run through a feed 
cutter and cut into inch or half inch lengths. 

Cow pea silage is greatly relished by farm animals 
after they once become accustomed to its peculiar flavor; 
farmers who have had considerable practical experience 
in feeding this silage are of the opinion that cow-pea 
silage has no equal for cows and sheep. It is also a good 
hog food, and for all these animals is considered greatly 
superior to pea-vine hay. In feeding experiments at a 
Delaware experiment station six pounds of pea-vine silage 
fully took the place of one pound of wheat bran, and the 
product of one acre was found equivalent to two tons of 
bran. 

Instead of placing only cow peas in the silo, alternate 
loads of cow peas and corn may be cut and filled into the 
silo, which will make a very satisfactory mixed silage, 
much richer in muscle building material than pure corn 
silage. A modification of this practice is known as Getty's 
method, in which corn and cow peas are grown in alternate 
rows, and harvested together with a corn harvester. Corn 



152 SILAGE CROPS. 

for this combination crop is preferably a large Southern 
variety, drilled in rows 4^ feet apart, with stalks 9 to 16 
inches apart in the row. Whippoorwill peas are planted 
in drills close to the rows of corn when this is about six 
inches high, and has been cultivated once. The crop is 
cut when the corn is beginning to glaze, and when three- 
fourths of the pea pods are ripe. 

The corn and peas are tied into bundles and these 
run through the silage cutter. The cut corn and peas are 
carefully leveled off and trampled down in the silo, and 
about a foot cover of green corn, straw or cottonseed 
hulls placed on top of the siloed mass. As in case of all 
legumes, it is safest to wet the cover thoroughly with at 
least two gallons of water per square foot of surface. 
This will seal the siloed mass thoroughly and will prevent 
the air from working in from the surface and spoiling 
considerable of the silage on top. 

Robertson Ensilage Mixture. — A similar effort of com- 
bining several feeds for the silo is fou-nd in the so-called 
Robertson Ensilage Mixture for the silo, named after 
Prof. Robertson in Canada. This is made up of cut Indian 
corn, sunflower seed heads, and horse beans in the pro- 
portion of 1 acre corn, i^ acre horse beans, and i/i acre 
sunflowers. The principle back of the practice is to fur- 
nish a feed richer in protein substances than corn, and 
thus avoid the purchase of large quantities of expensive 
protein foods like bran, oil meal, etc. Feeding experiments 
conducted with the Robertson Silage Mixture for cows at 
several experiment stations have given very satisfactory 
results, and have shown that this silage mixture can be 
partly substituted for -the grain ration of milch cows 
without causing loss of flesh or lessening the production of 
milk or fat. Fifteen pounds of this silage may be con- 
sidered equivalent to three or four pounds of grain feeds. 
The practice has not, however, been adopted to any great 
extent, so far as is known, owing to the difficulty of secur- 
ing a good quality of silage from the mixture and of grow- 
ing the horse beans successfully. 



SOJA BEANS AND SORGHUM. 153 

Soja beans (soy beans) are another valuable silage 
crop. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
the s'oy bean is highly nutritive, gives a heavy yield, and 
is easily cultivated. The vigorous late varieties are well 
adapted for silage. On account of their highly nitrog- 
enous character, soy beans are most economical when 
mixed with corn, and like other legumes they improve the 
silage by tending to counteract the acid reaction of the 
corn. The mixture also produces a more nearly balanced 
ration than either crop alone, and avoids the necessity of 
using purchased concentrates such as grain, bran, cotton- 
seed, etc. Some have found that the soy beans save at 
least half the grain bill. The crops may be mixed to best 
advantage for both cutting and feeding, by placing the soy 
beans on top of the corn as it enters the silage cutter, in 
the proportion of two, three, four or five parts of corn, as 
desired, to one part of soy beans. The latter should be 
siloed when the pods are well formed and the seeds are 
nearly grown. Of other southern crops that are used for 
silage may be mentioned chicken corn and teosinte. 

Sorghum is sometimes siloed in the Western and 
Middle States, and in the South. It is sown in drills, SVa 
inches apart, v/ith a stalk every six to ten inches in the 
row, and is cut when the kernels are in the dough stage, 
or before. According to Shelton, the medium-growing sac- 
charine and non-saccharine sorghums are excellent for sil- 
age. The sorghums are less liable to be damaged by 
insects than corn, and they remain green far into the fall, 
so that the work of filling the silo may be carried on long 
after the corn is ripe and the stalks all dried up. The 
yield per acre of green sorghum will often reach 20 tons, 
or one-half as much again as a good crop of corn. 
These considerations led Professor Shelton to pronounce 
sorghum greatly superior to corn as silage material, in 
Kansas, and generally throughout the Central Western 
States. The Ottawa (Can.) Station states that sorghum, 
where it can be grown, makes an excellent crop for silage. 
It needs to be cut, the best length, as in the case of corn 
being about one-half inch. 



154 SILAGE CROPS. 

In experiments at the Tennessee Station, A. M. Soule 
found that "as fine a quality of silage can be made from 
sorghum as from any other .crop and there seems to be 
little choice between the feeding values of sorghum and 
corn silage for beef production." He states that "farmers 
who experience difficulty in making good silage either cut 
the crops too green or else have improperly constructed 
silos." 

Sorghum, like corn, contains an excess of carbohy- 
drates and is somewhat deficient in protein. Its value is 
increased therefore by the addition of some leguminous 
crop such as cow peas. 

Sorghum bagasse is the name given to the crushed 
stalk of sorghum cane, and has been used with some suc- 
cess as silage. In Prof. Henry's "Feeds and Feeding," he 
says: "The bagasse, or waste, of the sorghum syrup fac- 
tories, which has considerable feeding value, should not 
be wasted, but may be satisfactorily ensiled." Naturally, 
bagasse is a little dryer than most crops as they are put 
into the silo, and the addition of water would greatly 
assist in packing it tight enough together to keep out the 
air and thus prevent spoiling. 

Miscellaneous Silage Crops. — In Northern Europe, 
especially in England, and the Scandinavian countries, 
meadow grass and after-math (rowen) are usually siloed; 
in England, at the present time, largely in stacks. 

In districts near sugar beet factories, wher^e sugar-beet 
pulp can be obtained in large quantities and at a low cost, 
stock raisers and dairymen have a most valuable aid in 
preserving the pulp in the silo. As the pulp is taken from 
the factory it contains about 90 per cent, of water; it 
packs well in the silo» being heavy, finely divided and 
homogeneous, and a more shallow silo can therefore be 
safely used in making pulp silage than is required in 
siloing corn, and especially clover and other crops of 
similar character. If pulp is siloed with other fodder 
crops, it is preferably placed uppermost, for the reason 
stated. Beet tops and pulp are often siloed in alternate 



WHEAT, RYE AND OATS. 155 

layers in pits 3 to 4 feet deep, and covered with boards 
and a layer of dirt. Beet pulp can also be successfully 
placed in any modern deep silo, and is preferably siloed 
In such silos as there will then be much smaller losses 
of food materials than in case of shallow silos or trenches 
in the field. 

Beet pulp silage is relatively rich in protein and low 
In ash and carbohydrates (nutr. ratio 1:5.7; see Glossary). 
Its feeding value is equal to about half that of corn silage. 

The Colorado Station has found that two tons of pulp 
are the equivalent of one ton of beets, which confirms the 
Nebraska test showing the feeding value of sugar beets 
to be practically equivalent to corn silage, pound for 
pound, for dairy cows. The use of beet tops for silage is 
discussed on page 165 of this book. 

Wheat, rye and oats have been siloed for summer 
feeding with some success. They should be cut in i/4 inch 
lengths and well tramped around the edges. A recent 
correspondent in Hoard's Dairyman tells of sowing some 
23 acres of rye and 9 acres of wheat in the fall and filling 
one silo with the rye the following May and the other 
with wheat early in June, just when they were headed out 
but before the grain was actually formed. Several acres 
of oats and peas were put into a third silo the first week 
in July. In cutting the rye and wheat it was necessary 
to take the precaution of cutting into short lengths and 
of carefully treading and packing it in the silo, in order 
to insure its keeping qualities. "It has kept very well 
until entirely consumed by the cattle, and we have no 
reason to suppose that it would not have kept if we had 
not used it up w^hen we did. But our experience has been 
that neither the rye nor the wheat is equal to corn silage 
for feed. In fact the cows did not eat the rye as clean as 
they should have done and fell off somewhat in milk. 
When we began on the wheat, however, they did better, 
and we believe the wheat to be better material for silage 
than rye." 

Oats and peas may be put into the silo and they make 



156 SILAGE CROPS. 

a very satisfactory silage. As a rule, those plants which 
have a hollow stem, like oats, do not keep well in the silo 
unless great care is taken to have them, very well tramped, 
as the hollow stems carry too much air. If the late sum- 
mer and fall are not too dry it will be possible to produce 
a crop of cowpeas for ensilage, planted after oats harvest. 

Oats have been put in the silo to kill mustard seed 
before the latter plants were matured, but after maturity 
the seeds are so well protected that it is doubtful if the 
heating and fermentation would destroy them. 

Occasional mention has furthermore been made in the 
agricultural literature of the siloing of a large number of 
plants, or products, like vetches, small grains (cut green), 
cabbage leaves, sugar beets, potatoes, potato leaves, tur- 
nips, brewers' grains, apple pomace, refuse from corn and 
pea canning factories; twigs, and leaves, and hop vines;, 
^even fern (brake), thistles, and ordinary weeds have been 
made into silage, and used with more or less success as 
foods for farm animals. 

A Wisconsin farmer has been using Canada thistles as 
silage for several seasons. He claims that after they have 
been cut up and placed in the silo for a week or two, they 
become very soft and palatable and says that the cattle 
eat this food ravenously to the last scrap and never seem 
to get enough of it. 

At a recent convention of the California Dairy Asso- 
ciation the president, Mr. A. P. Martin, stated that the 
best silage he ever made, besides corn, v/as made of weeds. 
A piece of wheat which was sowed early, was drowned 
out, and the field came up with tar weed and sorrel. This 
was made into silage, and when fed to milch cows, pro- 
duced most satisfactory results. 

Alvord says that a silo may be found a handy aq.d 
profitable thing to ^ have on a farm even if silage crops 
are not regularly raised to fill it. Thdre are always waste 
products, green or half-dry, with coarse materials like 
swale hay, that are generally used for compost or bedding, 
which may be made into palatable silage. A mixture, in 



MISCELLANEOUS CROPS. 157 

equal parts, of rag-weed, swamp grass or swale hay, old 
corn stalks or straw, and second-crop green clover, nearly 
three-fourths of which would otherwise be almost useless, 
will make a superior silage, surprising to those who have 
never tried it. 

The following description of the contents filled into a 
New York silo, which was used as a sort of catch-all, is 
given by the same writer: 1, 18 in. deep of green oats; 
2, 6 in. of red clover; 3, 6 in. of Canada field peas; 4, 
3 in. of brewers' grains; 5, 2 feet of whole corn plants, 
sowed broadcast, and more rag-weed than corn; 6, 5 in. 
of second-crop grass; 7, 12 in. of sorghum; 8, a lot im- 
mature corn cut in short lengths. The silage came out 
pretty acid, but made good forage, and was all eaten up 
clean. Damaged crops like frosted beets, potatoes, cab- 
bages, etc.; rutabagas which showed signs of decay, and 
clover that could not be made into hay because of rain, 
may all be placed in a silo and thus made to contribute 
to the food supply on the farm. 

A peculiar use of the silo is reported from California, 
viz., for rendering foxtail in alfalfa fields harmless in 
feeding cattle. The foxtail which almost takes the first 
crop of alfalfa in many parts of California, is a nutritious 
grass, but on account of its beards, is dangerous to feed. 
By siloing the crop the grass is said to be rendered per- 
fectly harmless; the alfalfa-foxtail silage thus obtained is 
eaten by stock with great relish and without any injurious 
effects. (Wall.) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SILAGE CROPS FOE THE SEMI-ARID 
REGIONS AND FOR THE SOUTH. 

In those parts of the Southwest, including the Great 
Plains region, where limited precipitation, evaporation and 
temperature conditions combine to make moisture con- 
servation the vital problem, the silo is finding one of its 
greatest fields of usefulness. 

It is generally conceded that when it can be grown 
successfully, corn is pre-eminently the silage crop. In 
many sections, ho.wever, corn does not mature or make 
sufficient yield, either in fodder or grain, to justify its use 
as compared with other crops well adapted to the siloing 
system, which do not require nearly so much moisture, 
and it is of these crops that we wish to speak in this 
chapter. Stockmen are beginning to realize that they 
must have a* permanent feed supply, one that will produce 
a good yield even under drouth conditions, or the live 
stock industry itself cannot be permanent, and the haphaz- 
ard method of depending entirely on Nature's offerings 
for the present need is fast becoming obsolete. With the 
ability of Western Kansas, for instance, to produce crops 
such as kafir, milo, saccharine sorghum and the broom 
corns, there is no reason why there should ever be a 
shortage of feed such as the farmers of that section 
experienced in the winter of 1911-12, 

The sorghums are the crops of first importance as 
silage in the regions where moisture is the controlling 
factor in crop production. The sweet sorghums have 
usually been considered a poor substitute for corn in the 
silo, but the conditions under which they are grown in 
regions of light rainfall, to a large extent, overcome the 
difficulty which is found in other sections of the country. 
If they are allowed to mature quite fully before they are 

158 



CROPS FOR KANSAS. 159 

cut for the silo, they do not form an abnormal amount of 
acid as they do when cut too green, or when grown under 
heavy rainfall conditions. 

For convenient reference the matter that follows has 
been classified under various states, although it should be 
remembered that, the discussion relative to one state is 
very often applicable to other sections where similar 
moisture and temperature conditions prevail. 

Kansas.— The conditions covered by Prof. Reed of the 
Kansas Experiment Station are, therefore, representative 
of many other regions: "The sorghum crops are growing 
in favor for silage making. In most sections of Kansas a 
larger yield per acre can be obtained from the sorghums 
than from the corn. Kafir, milo and sweet sorghum are 
the principal sorghum crops of Kansas that may be used 
for silage. Kafir has been used for silage at the Kansas 
Experiment Station with good results. The yields ob- 
tained are larger than the yields of corn. The feeding 
value of kafir, as compared with corn, would be about the 
same as the comparative value of the grain of each. Ex- 
periments have shown that ninety pounds of corn is 
equivalent to one hundred pounds of kafir grain. Milo 
maize ranks about with kafir as a silage crop. The sweet 
sorghum is grown in most parts of Kansas, and like the 
kafir, this plant is more of a dry weather crop than corn. 
"There is a prevailing opinion among many farmers 
and users of silos that the sweet sorghum is unfit for 
silage, that on account of the high sugar content there 
will be a large amount of acid formed, and the silage will 
be too sour to feed. It is true that this plant does con- 
tain a large amount of sugar, and the silage will become 
very sour if the crop is put up too green. In most 'cases 
where unsatisfactory results have been obtained by en- 
siloing sweet sorghum, it has been due to the fact that 
the crop was put in too green. Last year the Kansas 
Experiment Station obtained twelve and one half tons of 
sowed cane per acre as against five tons of corn that was 
listed. These crops were put into the silo at the proper 



160 CROPS FOR SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 

time, and they both made good feed. Quite contrary to 
the general opinion and experience it was found that the 
acid content of the sweet sorghum silage was less than 
that of the corn silage at all times. This silage was fed 
to dairy cows and they did not show any preference be- 
tween the two kinds of silage. The excellent quality of 
the sweet sorghum silage was accounted for from the 
fact that it was put up at the right time. 

"Sorghum crops should be almost mature when they 
are cut for silage. If cut too early the stalk will contain 
entirely too much juice. At the time the seed hardens, 
the stalk of the sweet sorghum and kafir plant will be well 
filled with sap, yet will not contain an excess so as to 
cause the silage to sour in the silo." 

Even the most stunted kafir can be saved with the silo. 
At the Kansas Station, kafir that was so stunted in its 
growth by reason of drouth that it yielded only a 
ton to the acre, with no grain whatever, was made into 
silage and was eaten readily by the stock. It served to 
furnish a succulent feed, where otherwise all of their feed 
would have been of a dry nature. 

Oklahoma. — James A. Wilson, director of the Oklahoma 
Station, writes that "for ensilage purposes we have used 
sorghum cane considerably during the past few years. 
The nonsaccharine sorghums, such as kafir and milo, make 
very excellent silage. We have also had good success 
with the sugar cane or Amber cane. 

"There is this difference, however, that should be ob- 
served in filling the silo with the above crops, namely, 
that the kafir corn and milo maize should be allowed to 
fully mature, that is, allowing the sap to carry the sugar 
up into the stalk which is usually done just before the 
plant is fully matured. While in the case of sugar cane, 
we have found it best to cut this on the green side before 
the maximum amount of sugar has been deposited in the 
plant, otherwise, we find that sugar cane ensilage sours." 

Bulletin No. 181 of the Oklahoma Station says: "Silos 
are not luxuries but necessities in Oklahoma. The silo 



OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS CROPS. 161 

does not only preserve fodder in its best form for feeding, 
but provides the cheapest of feeds for cattle and sheep. 
The whole corn or sorghum crop is stored up— butt, stalks 
and all— so that hardly any is lost. 

^'Silage is much relished by stock, especially by cattle 
and sheep. It is palatable, cheap and succulent, thins and 
cools the blood, improves the handling qualities of skin 
and hair, tones up the digestive system, and improves the 
health generally. Breeding females are put in good con- 
dition for producing healthy offspring, and after parturition 
are better able to give plenty of milk than when on a dry 
ration. To a large extent it is a preventive of digestive 
troubles, and with dairy cows it lessens considerably the 
chances of milk fever and garget. The legumes, such as 
alfalfa, cow peas, clover, soy beans, while they can be 
made into silage, are not satisfactory when mixed alone, 
as they will not pack sufficiently, but when mixed with a 
good proportion of corn or kafir fodder make a first class, 
well balanced silage." 

Texas.— Sorghum is a sure crop in Texas and will 
produce a fine quality of ensilage. Texas Bulletin No. 11 
says that the heavy growing varieties such as the Orange 
and African cane are preferred. It is planted in drills 
three feet six inches apart and cultivated. If it is planted 
early two good crops can be secured in one season on 
the same ground if the stubble is cultivated after the first 
crop is cut off. This crop should also be allowed to 
mature until the seed are hard. 

An authority on silage conditions in Texas, connected 
with the Frisco Railroad System, writes that "Sorghum is 
the most valuable plant that we have for silage. For this 
purpose it is, of course, grown in drills or rows, in the 
same way that corn is grown. It does not make quite as 
good grade of silage as corn, but it makes so much more 
to the acre that it is preferable. We frequently get two 
cuttings to the season, but if we get only one, the yield is 
so much more than the corn that any difference m 
nutritive value is overcome. Some farmers practice mix- 

11 



162 CROPS FOR SEMI- ARID REGIONS. 

ing sorghum and corn, but I do not think this is desirable 
in the South. Cow pea vines and sorghum would make a 
most excellent mixture for silage purposes, except the 
pea vines have a disadvantage of being difficult to handle; 
but the sorghum being rich in carbohydrates and the pea 
vines rich in protein matter, the mixture, as you will 
readily see, is an exceedingly good one. 

"I receive letters sometimes from parties who seem to 
have a doubt as to whether silage can be made success- 
fully in this climate, but there is no part of Texas in 
which it is not an entire success, and silos ought to be 
constructed and used much more widely than they are in 
this State. Sorghum silage is eaten readily by horses 
and mules of the farm, as well as by cattle, and it can 
be made to form an important part of the ration of the 
farm work stock, as well as the stock intended for the 
butcher, including hogs." 

Texas Station Bulletin No. 11 says that th^ crops most 
•desirable for the silo in Texas are corn, sorghum, cow 
peas, alfalfa and ribbon cane tops. Indian corn is the 
crop most generally used for the silo in that state. 
Sorghum, kafir and milo are also used extensively. Prof. 
Burns says that these four crops are sometimes planted 
in rows together, the result being a mixed silage of high 
quality. Kafir and milo are chiefly used in the semi-arid 
sections of the State where Indian corn does not thrive 
well. "All crops planted especially for the silo should be 
grown a little more thickly than when planted to harvest 
in the ordinary way, and they should become very well 
matured before being cut. Experience indicates that the 
best results are secured from corn and sorghum just as 
the grain begins to harden. The other crops will make a 
good ensilage at the same time they would be cut for hay. 
Combinations of corn and cow peas or sorghum and cow 
peas planted at the same time and in the same row make 
splendid ensilage and supply a nearly balanced ration 
with which very little grain is needed." 

New Mexico.^Prof. Simpson of the New Mexico Sta- 
tion writes regarding silage crops in that state as follows: 



NEW MEXICO CROPS. 163 

"Just as corn is used for the leading crop in the Corn 
Belt states, nonsaccharine sorghums, as kafir corn and 
milo, are used in this country. They are much more suc- 
cessfully grown here than corn, as they withstand the 
drought better and are not bothered by the worms. Kafir 
corn and milo silage has been proven to be very good in 
feeding value; and especially is this true in New Mexico, 
as the* larger part of the feeds which must be used with 
silage are of a nitrogenous character. Alfalfa is our lead- 
ing hay crop, and bran, cottonseed meal, wheat, oats, 
kafir and milo are the principal grains used in feeding. 
Of course, we have practically two conditions in New 
Mexico that are absolutely opposite: the irrigated sections 
and the dry-farming sections. In the irrigated valleys 
kafir corn and milo grown for silage make a very heavy 
yield and will undoubtedly stand first for silage crops. 
In the dry-farming sections the same two crops prevail, 
as more success comes from them than any other crops. 
I have been over a great deal of the dry-farming country 
in the last two weeks (October, 1912), and in most sec- 
tions they have a very good crop of kafir and milo this 
year. The tonnage will be heavy wherever it is used 
for silage. However, I am afraid that there is going to 
be a great deal wasted feed in those sections, because of 
the fact that they have few silos. Some of the people are 
putting their crops in silos, but other are simply growing 
it as fodder. If we could get a large percentage of the 
crops raised in the dry-farming sections this year into 
silos and fed to stock, especially dairy cattle, I conscien- 
tiously believe that it would mean a great advantage in the 
settling up and improving of the country. Most of the 
silos in the dry-farming country are nothing more than 
underground types, but they serve the purpose very well 
where the person has no money to put up another kind. 
"We have a great variety of crops, both in the irrigated 
and the dry-farming section, which make fairly good silage, 
and by utilizing them a great saving will be accomplished. 
Of course, there is no advantage in putting alfalfa into 
the silo, if it can be made into first-class hay. However, 



164 CROPS FOR SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 

oftentimes when it is time for the second or third cut, our 
rains are so persistent that it is impossible to get it into 
first-class hay. This can still be made into good feed by- 
making into silage, and the farmers will be able to utilize' 
the full value of it. Some report that they have had very 
good success by putting barley, wheat, or rye crops into 
the silo and cutting them a little green. However, as the 
stalks contain so much air, they must be carefully tramped 
and wet down to keep, and do not make first-class silage, 
although they are good. 

"In sections where sugar beets are grown, the tops 
are put into the silo with good success, with not only a 
large saving made on the crop, but they make excellent 
silage. 

"Cow peas and soy beans are grown in some localities 
very successfully, and they make first-class silage. Sor- 
ghum is another crop which makes very good silage, if al- 
lowed to mature fairly well. It grows abundantly, both 
in the irrigated and the dry-farming sections and yields 
heavily. 

"While there are a few other crops which undoubtedly 
will prove to be good for silage, they have not yet been 
tried out. We have a great many grasses which, some 
of them, may prove valuable for silage." 

Arizona, Colorado, etc— A. E. Vinson of the Arizona 
Station says that: "In certain sections of the semi-arid 
countries where dry-farming can be practiced or flood- 
water utilized in growing corn and sorghum, the silo will 
probably be found to enable the feeder to use more ad- 
vantageously the natural pastures, which during part of 
the year produce more than enough forage for the herds 
and flocks that can be permanently maintained upon tLer-i. 

"The advantages to be anticipated from silos in Ari- 
zona are several. A supply of succulent feed could- be 
kept available for the short winter period of poor pasture 
and again for the long period of summer drouth. This is 
especially important where dairying is practiced, and when 
there is a scant supply of irrigating water for the pastures 
in late spring and early summer. In some localities it 



ARIZONA AND COLORADO. 165 

might be possible to grow fodder corn or sorghum with 
the summer rains. This forage could be siloed and fed to 
range stock during the drouth of the next year or used to 
fatten them for the market. It has been found that as 
much as three and one-quarter tons per acre of sorghum 
can be produced by dry-farming methods in some parts 
of Arizona. This could be preserved as ensilage in suc- 
culent condition until needed." 

Beet leaves and tops may be utilized to good advantage 
in Colorado, Arizona and other sections by means of the 
silo. They should be washed free of dirt and sand, well 
drained and somewhat dry. The writer quoted above says 
that "this material sometimes contains as much as 3i/^ 
per cent, of oxalic acid in the dry substance, of which 
one-half or more may be soluble in water. Oxalic acid 
has the property of withdrawing lime from other sub- 
stances, with which it forms an insoluble oxalate. For 
that reason it is best not to feed beet leaves or beet leaf 
ensilage to growing stock since it is apt to produce un- 
duly soft bones by rendering insoluble the lime necessary 
for their nutrition. Even for mature animals the oxalic 
acid should be rendered harmless by adding one or two 
pounds of slaked lime per ton of leaves and tops when 
they are siloed. Since beet leaf ensilage has marked 
laxative properties, it must be combined with a liberal 
amount of straw or other dry forage. It is best adapted 
for feeding steers, but may also be given to sheep. Dairy 
cows are said to prosper on it, provided it does not ex- 
ceed one-third of the total ration." 

At the Colorado Station, nine feet of beet tops were 
placed in a 12x30 foot silo, after being run through a silage 
cutter. The tops had been frozen and were not in good 
condition, but they came out in the same condition as 
when put in. "Twenty-five pounds of the beet top silage 
was offered each cow of the dairy herd in place of the 
twenty-five pounds of sugar beets previously fed, the 
balance of the ration remaining constant. They ate the 
tops rather reluctantly, some of them finally consuming 
their entire allowance, others never doing so. That the 



166 CROPS FOR SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 

tops had a greater laxative effect than corn silage was 
apparent when a change to the latter was made." Beet 
pulp is siloed to some extent. A high silo used for this 
purpose "should be provided with special drainage for 
carrying away the large quantity of water given off by 
the pulp. Further information on beet pulp silage is given 
on page 154. 

"There are a great many Russian thistles all over the 
dry-farming sections, and these are becoming a great pest, 
says Prof. Simpson. "There have been a few endeavors 
to make silage from them, and with a fair degree of suc- 
cess. * * * Of course, we do not advocate planting 
thistles for silage, but it makes a good maintenance ration 
when made into silage, and this is one of the best methods 
of eradicating the pest, because the plants are not allowed 
to go to seed." r 

The- Russian thistle when young and tender is relished 
by cattle, but "as it reaches maturity and its feeding value 
becomes greater, its hardening needles cause it to be 
avoided by stock. In the process of siloing, the needles 
are softened and the plant is again rendered palatable. 
The plants are very bulky in proportion to the substance 
which they contain, and apparently large quantities of 
them will be reduced to small bulk in the silo. The 
entire plant should be pulled to avoid waste in harvest. 
Unless finely cut, the thistles cannot be packed in the silo 
sufficiently to exclude air and prevent spoilage."* M. B. 
Hassig, Cope, Colorado, who siloed several tons of Russian 
thistles, states "I had twelve feet of silage made of Rus- 
sian thistles on top of corn silage. I covered this with 
dirt, but not as much as I shall after this, as the air 
penetrated the earth and spoiled about two feet of the 
silage. The balance was w^ell preserved and relished by 
the cattle." 

He adds that after the thistle silage was exhausted 
the cattle consumed the corn silage with greater relish. 

Corn is the preferable silage crop for all sections of 



*Colorado Bulletin No. 



ALFALFA, PEAS, ETC. 167 

Colorado in which it will equal other fodders in yield. 
Colorado Bulletin No. 8 recommends for the irrigated sec- 
tions the following varieties: Iowa Silver Mine, Iowa Gold 
Mine, Improved Leaming, Pride of the North, Colorado 
Yellow Dent, and Ratekin's Yellow Dent, and for the un- 
irrigated districts, the White Australian, Squaw corn. 
Parson's High Altitude corn, Colorado Yellow Dent and 
Colorado White Dent. 

Owing to th^ good quality of alfalfa hay, the abund- 
ance of root crops and the difTiculty of getting good yields 
of corn, the silo is not used to any great extent in Utah, 
although some experimental work along this line is 
planned by the Station at Logan in the near future. 

Alfalfa and cow peas, already discussed in Chapter VII, 
are not usually made into silage, except as they are mixed 
with corn or sorghum. If siloed alone, they should be 
very well matured and thoroughly packed. Mixed in pro- 
portion of one part cow peaS' and three or four parts of 
corn or sorghum, they keep better and make a more 
balanced feed than the corn or sorghum alone. The cow 
peas may be planted in the same row with these crops 
and gathered with a harvester or they may be planted 
alone and mowed. In the latter case they should be mixed 
by placing the cow peas or alfalfa on top of the corn 
while entering the silage cutter. The cow peas may be 
forked from an extra wagon, in any desired proportion, 
usually one part to two, three or four parts of corn or 
sorghum. Prof. Reed says that "it is very desirable to 
put in the first crop of alfalfa in case it get rained on, 
but if alfalfa can be put up for hay it will be worth more 
in that form than in silage. Alfalfa hay has a market 
value and there is a growing demand for same, and since 
the crops such as kafir, sweet sorghum, and corn fodder 
have no market value, they should best be made into 
silage instead. Alfalfa hay when put in the silo alone 
will not keep for a great length of time. The exact rea- 
son for this has not been determined. Alfalfa silage 
that was in the silo for two years at the Kansas State 
Agricultural College, became very dark, and when it came 



168 CROPS FOR SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 

in contact with tlie air had a very offensive odor. Cattle 
would eat a little of it, but not enough to count it as a 
good feed. If it becomes necessary to put the first crop 
of alfalfa in the silo, arrangements should be made to 
feed it out within a few months after it is put up." 

The Canada field pea, so extensively grown in the San 
Luis Valley of Colorado and in other sections of the south- 
west, shows an analysis only slightly less than the cow 
pea, and it exceeds corn silage in richness. The field pea, 
like alfalfa, should be ensiled when mature enough for 
hay, and should be finely cut and thoroughly p3,cked in 
the silo. 

The Burbank Spineless Cactus in the warm arid 
regions of the Southwest is capable of enormous yields. 
It is claimed that the leaves or slabs as a fodder make 
superior beef and exceedingly rich milk; the cactus is 
very rich in sodium, potash and magnesia, the principal 
salts found in milk. It is a green, fresh and delicious 
stock food throughout the entire year. For best -results, 
it should be run through a feed cutter. Mr. Lhther Bur- 
bank used an "Ohio" cutter in demonstrating this , cactus 
at the California State Fair recently. Regarding cactus 
silage he says: "The cactus is supposed to be good for 
silage. It certainly would be good if mixed with corn 
fodder or some other dry substance, but experiments have 
not been carried out extensively with it." 

The prickly pear, both spiny and thornless, are grown 
along the coast and interior valleys of California and in 
the warmer parts of Arizona and southern Texas. At- 
tempts have been made to produce silage from the prickly 
pear, but it is a natural silage in that it can be gathered 
in the green, succulent stage at any time of the year and 
fed most advantageously and economically in this state. 
As with cactus, best feeding results are produced by run- 
ning through a feed cutter and fed in combination with 
dry roughage. 

Mr. David Griffiths, Government Agriculturist at Wash- 
ington, says: "A number of attempts have been made to 
make silage of prickly pear, but so far as I am aware 



WASHINGTON CROPS. 169 

none of them have been entirely successful. The ma- 
terial is very succulent and can be fed in the green, suc- 
culent state any daS^ of the year, and the necessity of 
making it into silage is not the same as that for ordi- 
nary crops which perish at the close of the season. It 
is a warm-country crop and can be fed at any time of the 
year without making it into silage." 

In Washington, says Prof. Nystrom of the Pullman 
Station, "while , corn is the best crop, we have been 
getting good success by using peas and oats, vetch and 
oats, barley and peas and clover. In some localities also 
alfalfa has been put in whole, and good silage has re- 
sulted. We advocate the use of the corn wherever it will 
grow; a large part of this state is not fitted for the 
growing of corn, but will grow Canada field peas and oats. 
In such localities we advocate this crop for the silo. 
Most of the crops that are used in a silo have been cut 
up, that is, run through an ensilage cutter, and good silage 
has resulted." 

Silage Crops in the South. 

Japanese cane has been found best adapted for grow- 
ing throughout Florida, Louisiana and the southern parts 
of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, or in any 
sections in which the velvet bean will mature seed. This 
will be up to 200 or 250 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Japanese cane makes a good silage. It keeps well and 
is relished by cattle. It has been used in feeding experi- 
ments with the dairy herd at the Florida .station with 
quite satisfactory results. The cost of silage from this 
crop should not exceed $1.75 or $2.00 per ton. It is rich 
in carbohydrates, but poor in protein, and care should, 
therefore, be taken to balance the ration when feeding. 

Prof. Scott of the Florida Station at Gainesville, says: 
"Perhaps the best silage crop that we grow here in 
Florida is the Japanese cane. This produces a heavier 
tonnage per acre than any other crop that we can grow 
and at the same time is practically double that which can 
be secured from sorghum or corn. Then, too, Japanese 



170 SILAGE CROPS IN THE SOUTH. 

cane is a much cheaper crop to produce than sorghum 
or corn, due to the fact that one planting of cane will 
last for fifteen or twenty years, while sorghum or corn 
must be planted every year, * * * ^he Japanese cane 
stalks should be well matured before being harvested, 
and this is not likely to occur until early in November. 
If Japanese cane is cut and put in the silo during Sep- 
tember, very unsatisfactory results are likely to occur, 
and what silage may be saved will be of very poor 
quality, due to the fact that at this time of the year 
there is very little feeding value in the Japanese cane, 
since the formation of sugar does not take place until 
the crop begins to mature, and the nearer we can let it 
stand in the field until frost, the higher the percentage 
of sugar in the stalks. 

"A great many have been disappointed in using sor- 
ghum for silage. However, I believe that 95 per cent, of 
the failures with sorghum silage has been due to the fact 
that the sorghum was put in the silo before it was fully 
matured. To make good silage the sorghum must be fully 
matured, that is, the seed should be in the hard dough 
stage." 

Prof. Milton P. Jarnagin of the Georgia Agricultural 
College writes us as follows: "For a number of reasons 
the production of silage is one of the most important 
phases of stock husbandry in the South. There has been 
an ill-founded opinion that since there is such a long 
growing season in the cotton section, silage is not of so 
much importance as in some of the Northern sections. 
From experimental work we believe that it is impossible 
to produce 100 pounds of beef or a gallon of milk as 
economically without silage as can be done with it. 

"Alternate rows of sorghum and corn will give us from 
three to five tons of silage per acre, depending on the 
quality of the land, more than can be secured from corn 
alone. We believe that sorghum and corn silage is equal 
to corn silage alone, though it is vastly superior to all 
sorghum silage. Aside from the increased tonnage, sor- 
ghum is much more drought resistant than corn. Even 



CROPS IN GEORGIA, ALABAMA, ETC. 171 

in extremely dry weather, we have never failed to get a 
fairly satisfactory yield of silage where sorghum con- 
stituted one-half of the crop. In addition to this, the 
sorghum carries considerable juice so that we are able 
to allow the corn to stand until it has developed the 
« maximum amount of nutrients before harvesting. The 
sorghum then gathers sufficient . moisture and weight to 
insure good packing and keeping. 

"We have gotten better results from the use of Red 
Head sorghum than any of the other varieties. It has a 
thick, heavy stalk, with heavy foliage, and at the same 
time it has the ability to stand up better than most other 
varieties. Any heavy stalk and vigorous growing variety 
of corn is satisfactory. During the past two years we 
have gotten better results from Cocke's Prolific than from 
Virginia ensilage corn on the College Farm." 

For Alabama, Mr. S. I. Bechdel, dairyman at the Ex- 
periment Station at Auburn, recommends the use of a 
good prolific corn in connection with pea-vines or soy 
beans, although sorghum is now used to a considerable 
extent throughout the state. 

Prof. Staples, of the Experiment Station at Baton 
Rouge, writes regarding Louisiana conditions as follows: 
"The best and most profitable crops that we can grow in 
this state for silage are corn, soy beans, peas, and 
sorghum. The corn and soy beans make the best combi- 
nation, as the corn is rather dry at some seasons and the 
soy beans being rather too moist supply the necessary 
amount of moisture to make the corn and beans together 
a most excellent combination of feed-stuffs for filling the 
silo. 

"The peas are also very goqd for combination with the 
corn, but are somewhat troublesome to handle on account 
of the vines entangling around the corn stalk and making 
it very hard to handle, both by the binder when cutting 
and by the man hauling and feeding the silage cutter. 
Sorghum is very good feed when used as silage, but does 
not contain as large a per cent, of feeding nutrients as 
the above mentioned crops." 



CHAPTER IX 

HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

Filling the Silo. 

A. Indian Corn. — As previously stated, corn should 
be left in the field betore cutting until it has passed 
through the dough stage, i. e., when the kernels are well 
dented or glazed, in case of flint varieties. Where very- 
large silos are filled and in cases of extreme dry weather 
when the corn is fast drying up, it will be well to begin 
filling the silo a little before it has reached this stage, 
as the greater portion of the corn would otherwise be 
apt to be too dry. There is, however, less danger in this 
respect now than formerly, on account of our modern deep 
silos, and because we have found that water applied di- 
rectly to the fodder in the silo acts in the same way as 
water in the fodder, and keeps the fermentations in the 
silo in check and in the right track. 

Cutting the Corn in the Field. — The cutting of corn 
for the silo is usually on small farms done by hand by 
means of a corn knife. Many farmers have been using 
self-raking and binding corn harvesters for this purpose, 
while others report good success with a sled or platform 
cutter. If the corn stands up well, and is not of a very 
large variety, the end sought may be reached in a satis- 
factory manner by either of these methods. If, on the 
other hand, much of the corn is down, hand cutting is to 
be preferred. A number of different makes of com har- 
vesters and corn cutters are now on the market; and it 
is very likely that hand-cutting of fodder corn will be 
largely done away with in years to come, at least on large 
farms, indeed, it looks as if the day of the corn knife was 
passing away, and as if this implement will soon be rele- 
gated to obscurity with the sickle of our fathers' time. 

172 



CUTTING AND HAULING THE CORN. 173 

If a corn harvester is used, it will be found to be a 
great advantage to have the bundles made what seems 
rather small. It will take a little more twine, but the 
loaders, the haulers, the unloaders, and even the Silage 
Cutter itself will handle much more corn in a day if the 
bundles are small and light, and it will be found to be 
economy to see that this is done. 

A platform cutter, which was used with great suc- 
cess, is described by a veteran Wisconsin dairyman, the 
late Mr. Charles R. Beach. 

"We use two wagons, with platforms built upon two 
timbers, eighteen feet long, suspended beneath the axles. 
These platforms are about eighteen inches from the ground 
and are seven feet wide. The cutting knife is fastened 
upon a small removable platform, two feet by about three 
and one-half feet, which is attached to the side of the large 
platform, and is about six or eight inches lower. One row 
is cut at a time, the knife striking the corn at an angle of 
about forty-five degrees. One man kneels on the small 
platform and takes the corn with his arm; two or three 
men stand upon the wagon, and as soon as he has gotten 
an armful, the men, each in turn, take it from him and pile 
it on the wagon. If the rows are long enough a load of 
on^ and one-half to two tons can be cut and loaded on in 
about eight or ten minutes. The small platform is de- 
tached from the wagon, the load driven to the silo, the 
platform attached to the other wagon, and another load 
is cut and loaded. None of the corn reaches the ground; 
no bending down to pick up. One teaiji will draw men, 
cutter, and load, and I do not now well see how the method 
could be improved. With a steam engine, a large cutter, 
two teams and wagons, and ten men we filled our silo 
22x24x18 feet (190 tons), fast, in less than two days." 

Professor Georgeson has described a one-horse sledge- 
cutter which has given better satisfaction than any fodder- 
cutter tried at the Kansas Experiment Station. It is 
provided with two knives, which are hinged to the body 
of the sled, and can be folded in on the sled, when not in 



174 



HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 



use. It has been improved and made easier to pull by 
providing it with four low and broad cast-iron wheels. 
It is pulled by a single horse and cuts two rows at a time. 
Two men stand upon the cutter, each facing a row; as the 
corn is cut they gather it intO' armfuls, which they drop 
into heaps on the ground. A wagon with a low, broad 
rack follows, on which the corn is loaded and hauled to 
the silo. 

Similar corn cutters have been made by various manu- 
facturers of late years and have proved quite satisfac- 
tory, although they require more hand labor than the corn 
harvesters and do not leave the corn tied up and in as 
convenient shape for loading on the wagons as these do. 
It is also necessary to use care with the sledge type of 
corn cutter, as numerous cases are on record where both 
men and horses have been injured by getting in front of 
the knives, which project from the sides. 




Fig* 36. Low-down rack for hauling fodder corn. 

A low down rack: for hauling corn from the field is 
shown in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 36). It has 
been used for some years past at the Wisconsin Station, 
and is a great convenience in handling corn, saving both 
labor and time. These racks not only dispense with a 
man upon the wagon when loading, but they materially 
lessen the labor of the man who takes the corn from the 
ground, for it is only the top of the load which needs to 
be raised shoulder-high; again, when it comes to unload- 
ing, the man can stand on the floor or ground and simply 
draw the corn toward him and lay it upon the table of the 



"EARS AND ALL." 175 

cutter, without stooping over and without raising the corn 
up to again throw it down. A plank that can easily be 
hitched on behind the truck will prove convenient for 
loading, so that the loader can pick up his armful and, 
walking up the plank, can drop it without much exertion. 
If wilted fodder corn is to be siloed it should be 
shocked in the field to protect it as much as possible from 
rain before hauling it to the cutter. 

Siloing Corn, ''Ears and AIL" 

The best practice in putting corn into the silo, is to 
silo the corn plant "ears and all," without previously husk- 
ing it. If the ear corn is not needed for hogs and horses 
or for seed purposes, this practice is in the line of econ- 
omy, as it saves the expense of husking, cribbing, shelling 
and grinding the ear corn. The possible loss of food ma- 
terials sustained in siloing the ear corn speaks against 
the practice, but this is very small, and more than coun- 
terbalanced by the advantages gained by this method of 
procedure. In proof of this statement we will refer to an 
extended feeding trial with milch cows, conducted by Pro- 
fessor Woll at the Wisconsin Station in 1891. 

Corresponding rows of a large corn field were siloed, 
'"ears and all," and without ears, the ears belonging to 
the latter lot being carefully saved and air-dried. The 
total yield of silage with ears in it (whole-corn silage) 
was 59,495 pounds; of silage without ears (stover silage) 
34,496 pounds and of ear corn, 10,511 pounds. The dry 
matter content of the lots obtained by the two methods 
of treatment was, in whole-corn silage, 19,^50 pounds; 
in stover silage 9,484 pounds, and in ear corn, 9,122 
pounds, or 18,606 pounds of dry matter in the stover 
silage and ear corn combined. This shows a loss of 1,344 
pounds of dry matter, or nearly 7 per cent., sustained by 
handling the fodder and ear corn separately instead of 
siloing the corn "ears and all." 

In feeding the two kinds of silage against each other. 



176 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

adding the dry ear corn to the stover silage, it was found 
that seventeen tons of whole-corn silage fed to sixteen 
cows produced somewhat better' results than fourteen tons 
of stover silage, and more than two tons of dry ear corn, 
both kinds of silage having been supplemented by the 
same quantities of hay and grain feed. The yield of milk 
from the cows v/as 4 per cent, higher on the whole corn 
silage ration than on the stover silage ration, and the 
yield of fat was 6.9 per cent, higher on the same ration. 
It would seem then that the cheapest and best way of pre- 
serving the corn crop for feeding purposes, at least in case 
of milch cows, is to fill it directly into the silo; the greater 
portion of the corn may be cut and siloed when the corn 
is in the roasting-ear stage, and the corn plat which is to 
furnish ear corn may be left in the field until the corn 
is fully matured, when it may be husked, and the stalks 
and leaves may be filled into the silo on top of the corn 
siloed "ears and all." This will then need some heavy 
weighting or one or two applications of water on top of 
the corn, to insure a good quality of silage from the rather 
dry stalks. (See pages 175 and 186.) 

An experiment similar to the preceding one, conducted 
at the Vermont Station, in which the product from six 
acres of land was fed to dairy cows, gave similar results. 
We are justified in concluding, therefore, that husking, 
shelling, and grinding the corn (processes that may cost 
more than a quarter of the market value of the meal) are 
labor and expense more than wasted, since the cows do 
better on the corn siloed "ears and all" than on that siloed 
after the ears were picked off and fed ground with it. 

The Filling Process, 

The corn, having been hauled from the field to the silo, 
has still to be reduced to a fine, homogeneous mass, so 
that it will pack well in the silo and will be convenient 
for feeding. 

In order to do this, the whole of the corn, ears and 
all, may be run through an "Ohio" 'Ensilage Cutter. 



THE FILLING PROCESS. 177 

The corn is unloaded on the table of the cutter and 
run through the machine, after which the carrier or 
blower elevates it and delivers it into the silo. The length 
of cutting practiced differs somewhat with different farm- 
ers and with the variety of corn to be siloed. Care should, 
be taken in this respect, however, for the length of cut 
has much to do with the quality of the silage. Experience 
has demonstrated that the half inch cut, or even shorter, 
gives most satisfactory results. The corn will pack and 
settle better in the silo, the finer it is cut, thus better ex- 
cluding the air and at the same time increasing the ca- 
pacity of the silo, some say 20 to 25 per cent. Cattle will 
also eat the larger varieties cleaner if cut fine, and the 
majority of farmers filling silos now practice such cutting. 

The cut ensilage should be directed to the outer edge 
of the silo at all times, thus keeping it high and packing 
it there, letting the center take care of itself. The weight 
of the silage packs it jn the center. 

If the corn is siloed "ears and all," it is necessary ta 
keep a man or boy in the, silo while it is being filled, ta 
level the surface and tramp down the sides and corners; 
if left to itself, the heavier pieces of ears will be thrown 
farthest away and the light leaves and tops will all come 
nearest the discharge; as a result the corn will not settle 
evenly, and the different layers of silage will have a dif- 
ferent feeding value. Several simple devices, such as- 
funnel-shaped hoppers, adjustable board suspended from 
roof, etc., will suggest themselves for receiving the silage 
from the carrier and directing it where desired in the 
silo. With the blower machines, the new flexible silo tube^ 
shown in the back of this book, is a most happy solution 
of an otherwise disagreeable job. At the same time it in- 
sures perfectly equal distribution of the cut feed; the 
leaves, moisture and heavier parts being always uniformly 
mixed as cut. 



12 



178 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

The Proper Distribution of the Cut Material 

in the Silo, 

The proper distribution of the cut corn after it has 
been elevated or blown into the silo is a matter which 
.should have proper attention at the time of filling. If 
the cut material is allowed to drop all in one place and 
then have no further attention the constant falling of the 
material in one place will tend to make that portion solid 
while the outside will not be so, and besides the pieces of 
ears and heavier portions will continually roll to the out- 
side. As a result the silage cannot settle evenly, and good 
results will not follow. As the filling progresses, the cut 
material should be leveled off and the common and most 
successful practice is to keep the material higher at the 
sides than at the center and do all the tramping at and 
■close to the sides, where the friction of the walls tends 
to prevent as rapid settling as takes place at the center. 
For this reason, no tramping, or at least, as little as 
possible, should be done, except close to the wails. In 
modern deep silos, the weight of the silage accomplishes 
more than would any amount of tramping, and all that is 
necessary, is to see that the cut material is rather evenly 
distributed, for better results in feeding, and to assist the 
settling by some tramping at the sides. With the new silo 
tube, this distribution is really reduced to the mere guid- 
ing of the mouth of the tube by hand. 

Size of Cutter and Power Required, 

The cutter used in filling the silo should have ample 
capacity to give satisfaction and do the work rapidly; a 
rather large cutter is therefore better than a cutter that 
is barely large enough. The size required depends on 
the rapidity with which it is desired to fill the silo and 
pn the power at hand. Where a steam engine is avail- 
able it is the cheapest power for filling large silos, as the 
work can then be finished very rapidly. For small farms 



SIZE OF CUTTER REQUIRED. 179 

and silos, the gasoline engine has rapidly replaced the 
two or three horse tread powers formerly popular for 
carrier machines, and the gasoline tractors of 12 to 25 
horse are now used to a considerable extent for blower 
machines. Ordinary steam threshing engines will stiil 
be found most dependable, however. The filling may be 
done as rapidly as possible, or may be done slowly, and 
no harm will result if, for any reason the work be inter- 
rupted for some time. More silage can be put into a silo 
with slow, than with rapid filling. If the farmer owns 
his own machine, he can, of course, fill his silo and then 
refill after the silage has settled, so that the silo will be 
nearly full after all settling has taken place. 

If, however, the farmer must depend on hiring an 
outfit, he will wish to do the filling as rapidly as possible, 
as a matter of economy, and will, therefore, seek the 
largest possible capacity. 

It is important to be able to get an outfit when it is 
needed. An early frost or a spell of hot, dry weather may 
so affect the crop that it is necessary to fill the silo sev- 
eral days before the usual time. For this reason a man 
should own his own cutter and engine, especially if he 
cuts enough silage each year to warrant the expenditure. 
Usually it is easier to hire an engine than a cutter. Many 
find it wise, therefore, to buy the latter and depend on 
being able to rent the former when it is needed. Where? 
individual ownership is not possible, the next best move 
is for two or three neighbors to purchase the necessary 
machinery in partnership. 

The size of the cutter to purchase depends also on 
how it is to be used. For private use, when the silo is 
not large, a small silo filler will suffice; for a neighbor- 
hood machine where two or three farmers combine, a 
larger size will be desirable; in either case if the silos 
are of large size or the cutter is to be used for jobbing 
work at other farms the larger sizes will certainly prove 
more profitable. In some sections, community cutters 
have become popular where from eight to fifteen farmers 



180 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

purchase complete equipment for their own use. ¥/ith 
fifteen or twenty men and several teams on the job there 
is always friendly rivalry as to the size of loads, speed 
in unloading, etc., and periodic efforts to choke or. stall 
the cutter are sure to result. It's a special feature of 
the game that should be considered and only the largest 
capacity cutter should be selected in such cases if su- 
preme satisfaction is desired. 

These conditions have created a demand for various 
sizes of cutters, and to meet this demand the "Ohio" 
Silage Cutters are made in six sizes, Nos. 11, 12, 15, 
17, 19 and 22 (the number of the machine indicates the 
length of knives and width of throat), and equipped with 
metal bucket elevators or blower elevators as desired, 
adaptable to any height of silo. The blower machines 
require more power to operate successfully than do the 
carrier machines, although* thfe largest sizes can be run 
by an ordinary threshing engine. The traveling feed 
table and the bull dog grip feed rolls are valuable features 
and practically do away with the labor of feeding the 
heavy green corn, besides increasing the capacity of the 
machines about one-third, on account of its being so much 
easier to get a large amount of material past the feed 
rolls. These machines have been on the market for up- 
wards of twenty-five years, and have been brought to a 
wonderful state of perfection. For durability, ease and 
reliability of operation, capacity and general utility, they 
are doubtless the most practical means of filling the silo. 

The Metal Bucket Elevator is the older style of ele- 
vator. It delivers the cut silage corn into the silo through 
a window or opening at the top and must be longer than 
the silo is high as it is necessary to run the carrier at 
somewhat of an angle. The length of the carrier required 
may be obtained by adding about 40 per cent, to the per- 
pendicular height from the ground to the window; thus for 
a 20 ft. silo a 28 ft. carrier is required, and for a 30 ft. 
silo, about 42 ft, of carrier will be necessary. 

The Metal Bucket Elevators for the "Ohio" Cutters 



BLOWER OR PNEUMATIC ELEVATORS. 181 

are made both straight away and vv^ith swivel base, which 
enables the operator to set the cutter in the desired posi- 
tion, and as the swivel base gives the carrier a range of 
adjustment extending over nearly a half circle, the carrier 
can be run directly to the window, or in the case of two 
silos setting side by side, both can be filled with one set- 
ting of the cutter. 

The Nos. 15, 17 and 19 "Ohio" Cutters are the sizes 
most in use by farmers, stockmen and dairymen. The 
traveling feed table, first adopted by the "Ohio," which is 
long enough to receive a bundle of corn is a most valu- 
able feature and has become almost universal on the 
"Ohio" machines used for silo filling. It decreases the 
labor of feeding and makes any size of machine about 
equal in capacity to the next size larger without it. 

The newer and more modern method of elevating fod- 
der in filling silos, is the use of the Blower Elevator which 
blows the cut fodder into the silo through a continuous 
pipe. Blower Elevators (see illustration of "Ohio" Blower 
Cutter, Fig. 37) have been in use to an increasing extent 
for several years, and today there is absolutely no doubt 
as to their superiority for elevating the material. Where 
sufficient power is available there is no difficulty in ele- 
vating the cut fodder into the highest silos. 

Although the Blower Machines require somewhat more 
power than the old style Carrier, they have numerous 
advantages over the latter, and the majority of machines 
now being sold are equipped with Blowers. We mention 
below some of the features that have served to bring the 
"Ohio" Monarch Blowers to the notice and favor of farm- 
ers and dairymen so rapidly. 

The Blower Machine is quickly set up, taken down or 
moved, as all that is necessary is to remove the pipe, 
(which is in sections of various lengths from four to 
ten feet as desired), which requires but a few moments. 
This operation requires but little time as compared with 
that occupied in setting up or taking apart the chain 
elevator. 



182 



HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 







-■^^: 


BT^S 



Fig. 37, Slioivs a No. 19 "Ohio" Monarch Self Feed Blower 
Silage Cutter filling a group of five silos, owned by S. M. 
Shoemal'cr, Burn&ide, P. 0., Eccleston, Md. The machine 
had just completed storing 1700 tons of silage. 



The Blower IN^achine is clean in operation, placing 
all of the corn in the silo and there is no litter around 
the machine when the filling is finished. 

The action of the fan paddles is such that the corn 
is made much finer and it therefore packs closer in the 
silo, thus enabling more fodder to be stored in the silo; 
the corn is all knocked off of the pieces of cobs and dis- 
tributed through the cut fodder better, and the pieces of 
the heavy butts and joints are also split and knocked to 
pieces, all of which reduces the silage to a fine condition 
so that it is eaten up cleaner by the stock. 



BLOWER OR PNEUMATIC ELEVATORS. 183- 

The fan or blower device is also likely to be more 
durable than the chain elevator. v 

The "Ohio" direct drive construction with pulley, knife 
cylinder and fan all on main shaft, is unique among 
silage cutters and is thoroughly covered by patents. Its 
large fan permits full capacity at low speed so that it 
never explodes or blows up. The feeding mechanism can 
be started, stopped or reversed with a single lever. It. 
cuts all kinds of fodder from i/4 to 4 inch lengths as de- 
sired, with a perfectly adjusted shear cut. 

Many have been skeptical as to the ability of the Blower 
to elevate the material as rapidly as the "Ohio" Machines 
cut it. This proposition, however, has been proven en- 
tirely feasible and successful, and there positively need 
be no fear on this point if the following points are kept 
in mind. 

The machine must be run at the proper speed as. 
recommended by the manufacturers. A fan can only 
create a sufficient blast by running fast enough to force 
the air through the pipe at the rate of nine or ten thou- 
sand feet per minute. Green corn is heavy stuff and re- 
quires a strong current of air to carry it through .30 or 
40 feet of pipe at the rate of 10 to 30 tons per hour. It 
will be seen, therefore, that unless proper speed be main- 
tained there will be no- elevation of the material what- 
ever. If the power at hand is not sufficient to maintain 
full speed when the cutters are fed to full capacity, all that 
is necessary is to feed the machine accordingly, in other 
words, to cut down the capacity to the point where full 
speed can be maintained, as is necessary with other kinds 
of machinery, such as threshing machines, grinding mills, 
etc. 

In setting a Blower Machine it is necessary to have 
the pipe as nearly perpendicular as possible, so that the 
current of air within the pipe will lift the material. This 
is especially true where the pipe is long, say 20 feet or 
more, because the green fodder being heavy will settle 
down onto the lower side of the pipe, if this has much 



184 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

slant, and the wind blast will pass over the fodder, thus 
allowing it to lodge, whereas if the pipe be perpendicular, 
or nearly so, no stoppage will occur. It is also necessary 
to see that full speed is attained before beginning to 
feed the machine, and also to stop the feeding while the 
machine is in full motion so that the Blower will have 
an opportunity to clear itself before shutting off the power. 

There must be ample vent in the silo to prevent back 
pressure, as the tremendous volume of air forced into the 
silo with the cut fodder must have some means of escape. 

If these few points are kept in mind, there can be no 
possible doubt as to the successful operation of the Blower 
Elevator; arid, as previously stated, there is absolutely no 
doubt as to their superiority for elevating silage. Scores 
of "Ohio" Blower Machines are in successful use in all 
parts of the country. 

(N. B. At the end of this volume will be found illus- 
trations and descriptions of several, sizes and styles of 
"Ohio" Cutters, which the reader can refer to, in addition 
to the illustration given here.) 

Danger from Carbonic-Acid Poisoning in Silos. — As 
soon as the corn in the silo 'begins to heat, carbonic-acid 
gas is evolved, and if the silo is shut up tight the gas will 
gradually accumulate directly above the fodder, since it 
is heavier than air and does not mix with it under the con- 
ditions given. If a man or an animal goes down into this 
atmosphere, there is great danger of asphyxiation, as is 
the case under similar conditions in a deep cistern or well. 
Poisoning cases from this cause have occurred in filling 
silos where the filling has been interrupted for one or more 
days, and men have then gone into the silo to tramp down 
the> cut corn. If the doors above the siloed mass are left 
open when the filling is stopped, and the silo thus venti- 
lated, carbonic acid poisoning cannot take place, since the 
gas will then slowly diffuse into the air. Carbonic acid 
being without odor or color, to all appearances like ordi- 
nary air, it cannot be directly observed, but may be readily 
detected by means of a lighted lantern or candle. If the 



COVERING THE SILOED FODDER. 185 

light goes out when lowered into the silo there is an 
accumulation of carbonic acid in it, and a person should 
open feed doors and fan the air in the silo before going 
down into it. 

After the silage is made and the temperature in the 
silo has gone down considerably, there is no further evo- 
lution of carbonic acid, and therefore no danger in enter- 
ing the silo even if this has been shut up tight. The 
maximum evolution of carbonic acid, and consequently the 
danger of carbonic-acid poisoning comes during or directly 
after the filling of the silo. 

Covering the Siloed Fodder. 

Many devices for covering the siloed fodder have been 
recommended and tried, with varying success. The orig- 
inal method was to put boards on top of the fodder, and 
to weight them heavily by means of a foot layer of dirt 
or sand, or with stone. The weighting having later on 
been done away with, lighter material, as straw, hay, 
sawdust, etc., was substituted for the stone or sand. 
Building paper was often placed over the fodder, and 
boards on top of the paper. There is no special advan- 
tage derived from the use of building-paper, and it is now 
never used. Many farmers run some corn stalks, or green 
husked fodder, through the cutter after the fodder is all 
in. In the South, cotton-seed hulls are easily obtained, 
and form a cheap and most efficient cover. 

None of these materials or any other recommended for 
the purpose can perfectly preserve the uppermost layer of 
silage, some four to six inches of the top layer being 
usually spoilt. Occasionally this spoilt silage may not be 
so bad but that cattle or hogs will eat it up nearly clean, 
but it is at best very poor food, and should not be used by 
any farmer who cares for thei quality of his products. The 
wet or green materials are better for cover than dry sub- 
stances, since they prevent evaporation of water from the 
top layer; when this is dry air will be admitted to the fod- 
der below, thus making it possible for putrefactive bacteria 



186 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

and molds to continue tlie destructive work begun by the 
fermentation bacteria, and causing more of the silage to 
spoil. 

Use of Water in Filling Silos. — During late years the 
practice of applying water to the fodder in the silo has 
been followed in a large number of cases. The surface 
ig tramped thoroughly and a considerable amount of water 
added. In applying the method at the Wisconsin Station, 
Prof. King, a few days after the completion of the filling 
of the silo, added water to the fodder corn at the rate of 
about ten pounds per square foot of surface, repeating the 
same process about ten days afterwards. By this method 
a sticky, almost impervious layer of rotten silage, a couple 
of inches thick, will form on the top, which will prevent 
evaporation of water from the corn below, and will pre- 
serve all but a few inches at the top. The method can be 
recommended in cases where the corn or clover goes into 
the silo in a rather dry condition, on account of drouth 
or extreme hot weather, so as not to pack sulRciently by 
its own weight. While weighting of the siloed fodder has 
long since been done away with, it may still prove ad- 
vantageous to resort to it where very dry fodder is siloed, 
or in case of shallow silos. Under ordinary conditions 
neither weighting nor application of water should be 
necessary. 

There is only one way in which all of the silage can 
be preserved intact, viz., by beginning to feed the silage 
within a few days after the silo has been filled. This 
method is now practiced by many farmers, especially 
dairymen, who in this manner supplement scant fall 
pastures. 

By beginning to feed at once from the silo, the silo- 
ing system is brought to perfection, provided the silo 
structure is air-tight, and constructed so as to admit of 
no unnecessary losses of nutrients. Under these con- 
ditions there is a very considerable saving of food ma- 
terials over silage made in poorly constructed silos, or 
ovet field-cured shocked fodder corn, as we have already 
seen. 



FREEZING OF SILAGE. 187 

Freezing of Silage, 

Freezing of silage has sometimes been a source of 
annoyance and loss to farmers in Northern States, and 
in the future, with the progress of the stave silo, we 
shall most likely hear more about frozen silage than we 
have in the past. As stated in the discussion of the stave 
silo, however, the freezing of silage must be considered 
an inconvenience rather than a positive detriment; when 
the silage is thawed out it is eaten with the same relish 
by stock as is silage that has never been frozen, and 
apparently with equally good results. If frozen silage 
is not fed out directly after thavv^ed it will spoil and soon 
become unfit to be used for cattle food; thawed silage 
will spoil much sooner than ordinary silage that has not 
been frozen and thawed out. There is no evidence that 
silage which has been frozen and slowly thawed out is 
less palatable or nutritious than silage of the' same kind 
which has been kept free from frost. 

Frozen silage should be avoided, not because it is 
unwholesome but because it is too cold. The warmer the 
silage can be kept the more palatable it will be and the 
less energy will be required to raise it to the body tem- 
perature of the animals. Frozen silage also has a ten- 
dency to make the cows laxative, but not overmuch. It 
does not seem to bring down the milk flow as might be 
supposed. Sheep seem to be affected more readily than 
cattle by eating it and they are also more susceptible to 
the effects of moldy or spoiled silage. 

"Freezing of silage," says Iowa State College Bulletin 
No. 100, "is due to loss of heat; first, through the silo 
wall; and second, to the air in contact with the feeding 
surface. 

"It may be impartially said that, as far as the pre- 
vention of freezing is concerned, the stave, stone, single 
wall brick and concrete silos are of about equal merit. 

"The second cause of freezing mentioned, that is, the 
loss of heat from the silage surface, is too often the cause 



188 HOW TO MAKE SILAGE. 

of unnecessary freezing. If air above tlie silage is confined, 
no serious loss of heat can possibly take place. When the 
top of the silo is open and a free circulation of air permit- 
ted, it is almost impossible to prevent the surface from 
freezing in severe weather. A personal investigation of 
silos in cold weather proved conclusively that those pro- 
vided with a tight roof did not -contain nearly as much 
frozen silage as those left open." 

The difficulty of the freezing of the silage may be 
avoided by checking the ventilation in the silo and by 
leaving the door to the silo carefully closed in severe 
weather. If the top layer of silage freezes some of the 
warm silage may be mixed with the frozen silage an 
hour or two before feeding time, and all the silage will 
then be found in good condition when fed out. A layer 
of .straw may be kept as a cover over the silage; this 
will prevent it from freezing, and is easily cleared off 
when silage is to be taken out. 

Covering' over the exposed surface of the silage with 
old blankets or hanging a lantern in the silo are other 
methods of keeping out the frost. 

Silage from Frosted Corn, 

Experiments were conducted at the Vermont Station 
in October, 1906, with immature corn, mature corn not 
frosted, and mature corn frosted hard or frozen and the 
leaves whitened. No ill results were noticeable in the 
butter product. It was found that "the effect of frosting 
corn, and still more of freezing it, appears very slightly 
to have been to depress its feeding value when made into 
silage." The testimony seemed in favor of running frost 
risks in order to gain a greater maturity, rather than to 
silo the immature product. 

Steamed Silage. 

While fermentation in silage causes a small unavoid- 
able loss, it develops flavors and softens the plant tissue. 
Excessive fermentation causes high acid. Steam has been 



STEAMING SILAGE. 189 

used with much success to check it in such cases, says 
Farmer's Bulletin No. 316. It is piped at the bottom and 
middle of the silo until the whole mass is hot. 

Steaming seems beneficial and silage so treated is con- 
sidered much better than that which is not steamed. Stall 
fed animals have eaten from 50 to 75 lbs. of silage per day. 



CHAPTER X 

HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

Silage is eaten with a relish by all kinds of farm ani- 
mals, dairy and beef cattle, horses, mules, sheep, goats, 
swine, and even poultry. It should never be fed as sole 
roughage to any one of these classes of stock, however, 
but always in connection with some dry roughage. The 
nearer maturity the corn is when cut for the silo the more 
silage may safely be fed at a time, but it is always well 
to avoid feeding it excessively. 

The silo should always be emptied from the top in 
horizontal layers, and the surface kept level, so as to 
expose as little of the silage as possible to the air. It 
should be fed out sufficiently rapidly to avoid spoiling 
of the silage; in ordinary Northern winter weather a 
layer a couple of inches deep should be fed off daily. 

Silage for Milch Cows. 

Silage, is par excellence a cow feed, says Prof. Woll 
in his Book on Silage. Since the introduction of the 
silo in this country, the dairymen, more than any other 
class of farmers, have been among- the most enthusiastic 
siloists, and up to the present time a larger number of 
silos are found in dairy districts th^n in any other re- 
gions where animal husbandry is a prominent industry. 
As with other farm animals, cows fed silage should re- 
ceive other roughage in the shape of corn stalks, hay, 
etc. The quantities of silage fed should not exceed forty, 
or at outside, fifty pounds per day per head. It is 
possible that a maximum allowance of only 25 or 30 
pounds per head daily is to be preferred where the 
keeping quality of the milk is an important considera- 
tion, especially if the silage was made from, somewhat 

190 



KEEPS UP MILK FLOW. 



191 



immature corn. The silage may be given in one or two 
feeds daily, and, in case of cows in milk, always after 
milking, and not before or during same, as the peculiar 
silage odor may, in the latter case, in our experience 
reappear in the milk. (See below.) 

Silage exerts a very beneficial influence on the secre- 
tion of milk. Where winter dairying is practiced, cows 
will usually drop considerably in milk toward spring, if 
fed on dry feed, causing a loss of milk through the 
whole remaining portion of the lactation period. If siiage 
is fed there will be no such marked decrease in the flow 
of milk before turning out to grass, and the cows will 
be able to keep up well in milk until late in summer. 




Fig, 37, Silage Truclc Designed for carting silage from 
the silo to the feeding alley. Smooth rounded corners in- 
side. Saves time, labor and silage. 

The overhead carrier is also used to some extent for the same 
purpose. 



or early in the fall, when they are dried up prior to 
calving. Silage has a similar effect on the milk secre- 
tion as green fodder or pasture, and if made from well- 
matured corn, is more like these feeds than any other 
feed the farmer can produce. 

The feeding of silage to milch cows has sometimes 



192 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

been objected to when the milk was intended for the 
manufacture of certain kinds of cheese, or of condensed 
milk, and there are instances where such factories have 
enjoined their patrons from feeding silage to their cows. 
When the latter is properly prepared and properly fed, 
there can be no foundation whatever for this injunction; 
it has been repeatedly demonstrated that Swiss cheese 
of superior quality can be made from the milk of silage- 
fed cows, and condensing factories among whose pat- 
rons silage is fed have been able to manufacture a 
superior product. The quality of the silage made during 
the first dozen years of silo experience in this country 
was very poor, being sour and often spoilt in large 
quantities, and, what may have been still more important, 
it was sometimes fed in an injudicious manner, cattle 
being made to subsist on this feed as sole roughage. 
Under these conditions it is only natural that the quality 
of the milk should be impaired, and that manufacturers 
preferred to entirely prohibit the use of it rather than 
to teach their patrons to follow proper methods in the 
making and feeding of silage. There is an abundance of 
evidence at hand showing that good silage fed in moder- 
ate quantities will produce an excellent quality of both 
butter and cheese. According to the testimony of but- 
ter experts, silage not only does not injure the flavor of 
butter, but better-flavored butter is produced by judicious 
silage feeding than can be made from dry feed. 

Silage in the production of ''certified milk." — In an- 
swer to a question raised whether there is any objection 
made to the milk when the cows are fed silage, Mr. H. B. 
Gurler, the well-known Illinois dairyman, whose certified 
milk sent to the Paris Exposition in 1900, kept sv,-eet 
for one month without having any preservatives added 
to it, and was awarded a gold medal, gave the following 
information: "No, there is not. I have had persons who 
knew I was feeding silage imagine they could taste it. I 
caught one of the leading Chicago doctors a while ago. 
He imagined that he could taste silage in the milk, and 



SILAGE FOR "CERTIFIED MILK." 193 

I was not feeding it at all. When I first went into the 
business I did not feed any silage to the cows from 
which the certified milk was produced. I knew it was 
all right for butter making, as I had made butter from 
the milk of the cows fed with silage, and sent it to New 
York in competition with butter made from dry food, and 
it proved to be the finer butter of the two. The first 
winter I had samples sent down to my family in De 
Kalb from the stable where we fed silage and from the 
stable where we were making the certified milk for Chi- 
cago, and in which we fed no silage. I presume I made 
one hundred comparative tests that winter of the milk 
from these two stables. My wife and daughter could 
not tell the difference between the two samples. In the 
large majority of cases they would select the milk from 
the cows fed silage as the sweeter milk." 

It will serve as an illustration of the general use of 
silage among progressive dairymen in our country, to 
state that of one hundred farmers furnishing the feed 
rations fed to their dairy cows, in an investigation of this 
subject . conducted by Prof. Woll in 1894, sixty-four were 
feeding silage to their stock, this feed being used a 
larger number of times than any other single cattle food, 
wheat bran only excepted. 

An interesting experiment as to the effect of silage 
on milk was recently conducted by the Illinois Station, 
where a herd of 40 cows was divided, one lot being fed 
40 lbs. of silage a day, the other clover hay and grain. 
Samples of milk were submitted to 372 persons for an 
opinion. Sixty per cent, preferred the silage-fed milk, 29 
per cent, non-silage-fed milk, while 11 per cent, had no 
choice. They were able to distinguish between the two 
kinds, but foun^ nothing objectionable about either. The 
summary of the test was that when silage imparts a bad 
or disagreeable flavor to milk produced from it, almost 
invariably the cause is that the silage has not been fed 
properly, or that spoiled silage has been used. 

It has been contended that the acetic acid in ensilage 

13 



194 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

has a tendency tO' make milk sour more quickly. A user 
of ensilage for 14 years, took a gallon of milk from a cow 
fed ensilage for 42 days and a gallon from another that 
had received no ensilage and set them side by side in a 
room having a temperature of 40 degrees. Both gallons 
of milk began to sour at the same time. 

The combination in which corn silage will be used 
in feeding milch cows will depend a good deal on local 
conditions; it may be said in general that it should be 
supplemented by a fair proportion of nitrogenous feeds 
like clover hay, wheat bran, ground oats, linseed meal, 
gluten feed, cotton-seed meal, etc. As it may be of 
some help to our readers a number of balanced rations 
or such as are near enough balanced to produce good 
results at the pail, are presented below. 

Silage Rations for Milch Cows, 

No. 1. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; hay, 8 lbs.; wheat bran, 4 

lbs.; ground oats, 3 lbs.; oil meal, 2 lbs. 
No. 2. Corn silage, 50 lbs.; corn stalks, 10 lbs.; corn 

meal, 2 lbs.; wheat bran, 4 lbs.; malt sprouts, 3 lbs.; 

oil meal, 1 lb. 
No. 3. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; clover and timothy mixed. 

10 lbs.; wheat shorts, 3 lbs.;' gluten feed, 3 lbs.; corn 

and cob meal, 3 lbs. 
No. 4. Corn silage, 20 lbs.; corn stalks, 10 lbs.; hay, 

4 lbs.; wheat bran, 4 lbs.; gluten meal, 3 lbs.; ground 

oats, 3 lbs. 
No. 5. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; clover hay, 10 lbs.; oat feed, 

4 lbs.; corn meal, 3 lbs.; gluten feed, 3 lbs. 

No. 6. Corn silage, 45 lbs.; corn stalks, 5 lbs.; oat straw, 

5 lbs.; dried brewers' grains, 4 lbs.; wheat shorts, 
4 lbs. 

No. 7. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; hay, 10 lbs.; corn meal, 3 

lbs.; wheat bran, 4 lbs.; oats, 3 lbs. 
No: 8. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; corn stover, 8 lbs.: wheat 

bran, 4 lbs.; gluten meal, 2 lbs.; oil meal, 2 lbs. 



SILAGE RATIONS FOR MILCH COWS. 195 

No. 9. Corn silage, 20 lbs.; clover and timothy hay, 15 

lbs.; corn meal, 3 lbs.; ground oat^', 3 lbs.; oil meal, 

2 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 1 lb. 
No. 10. Clover silage, 25 lbs.; corn stover, 10 lbs.; hay, 

5 lbs.; wheat shorts, 2 lbs.; oat *eed, 4 lbs.; corn meal, 

2 lbs. 
No. 11. Clover silage, 30 lbs.; dry fodder corn, 10 lbs.; 

oat straw, 4 lbs.; wheat br\n, 4 lbs.; malt sprouts, 

2 lbs.; oil meal, 2 lbs. 
No. 12. Clover silage, 40 lbs.; hay, 10 lbs.; roots, 20 lbs.; 

corn meal, 4 lbs.; ground oats, 4 lbs. 

The preceding rations are only intended as approxi- 
mate guides in feeding dairy cows. Every dairy farmer 
knows that there are hardly two cows that will act in 
exactly the same manner and will need exactly the same 
amount of feed. It is then important to adapt the quan- 
tities and kinds of feed given to the special needs of the 
different cows; one cow will fatten on corn meal, where 
another will be able to eat and make good use of two 
or three quarts of it. In the same way some cows will 
eat more roughage than others and do equally well on it 
as those that get more of the food in the form of more 
concentrated and highly digestible feeding stuffs. The 
only safe rule to go by is to feed according to the 
different needs of the cows; to study each cow and find 
out how much food she can take care of without laying 
on flesh, and how she responds to the feeding of foods 
of different character, like wheat bran and corn meat, 
for instance. The specimen rations given in the preced- 
ing can, therefore, only be used to show the average 
amount of common feeds which a good dairy cow can 
take in and give proper returns for. 

The popularity of the silo with owners of dairy cattle 
has increased very greatly, says Prof, Plumb. Few owners 
of stock of this class, who have properly-built silos, and 
well-preserved silage, would discard silage as an adjunct 
to feeding. Silage certainly promotes milk ' flow. One 
great argument in favor of its use lies in the cheapness 



196 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

of production per ton, and the ability to store and secure 
a palatable, nutritious food in weather conditions that 
would seriously injure hay or dry fodder. 

There is one important poi/nt that owners of milk 
cattle should bear in mind, and that is when the silo is 
first opened only a small feed should be given. In chang- 
ing from grass or dry feed to silage, if a regular full 
ration is given, the silage will perhaps slightly affect 
the taste of the milk for a few milkings, and if the change 
is from dry feed it may cause too great activity of the 
bowels. 

Silage for Beef Cattle, 

Prof. Henry says in regard to the value of silage for 
fattening steers: "As with roots, silage makes the carcass 
watery and soft to the touch. Some have considered this 
a disadvantage, but is it not a desirable condition in the 
fattening steer? Com and roughage produce a hard dry 
carcass, and corn burns out the digestive tract in the 
shortest possible time. With silage and roots, digestion 
certainly must be more nearly normal, and its profitable 
action longer continued. The tissues of the body are 
juicy, and the whole system must be in just that condi- 
tion which permits rapid fattening." 

Young stock may be fed half as much silage as full 
grown ones, with the same restrictions and precautions 
as given for steers. Experience obtained at the Kansas 
Station suggests that corn silage is not a fit food for 
breeding bulls, unless fed a few pounds only as a relish; 
fed heavily on silage, bulls are said to lose virility and 
become slow and uncertain breeders. 

Fuller information on this subject is given in Chapter 
III of this book, entitled, "The Use of Silage in Beef Pro- 
duction." 

Silage for Horses, 

Silage has been fed to horses and colts for a number 
of years with excellent results. These points should be 
kept in mind however. Never feed moldy silage; It is 



SILAGE FOR HORSES. 197 

poisonous. Avoid sour silage made from immature corn. 
Feed regularly, once or twice a day, starting in with a 
light feed and gradually increasing as the animals become 
accustomed to the food. The succulence of silage pro- 
duces as good an effect on horses in the winter months 
as do the fresh spring pastures. Some farmers feed it 
mixed with cut straw, two-thirds of straw and one-third of 
silage, and feed all the horses will eat of this mixed feed. 
Some horses object to silage at first on account of its 
peculiar odor, but by sprinkling some oats or bran on 
top of the silage and feeding only very small amounts 
to begin with, they soon learn to eat and relish it. Other 
horses take it willingly from the beginning. Horses 
not working may be fed larger quantities than work 
horses, but in neither case should the silage form more 
than a portion of the coarse feed fed to the horses. 
Silage-fed horses will look well and come out in the 
spring in better condition than when fed almost any 
other food. 

Professor Cook says in regard to silage as a horse 
food: "It has been suggested by even men of high 
scientific attainments that silage is pre-eminently the 
food for cattle and not for other farm stock. This is 
certainly a mistake. If we raise fall colts, which I find 
very profitable, then silage is just what we need, and 
will enable us to produce colts as excellent as though 
dropped in the spring. This gives us our brood mares 
in first-class trim for the hard summer's work. I find 
silage just as good for young colts and other horses." 

Ajn extensive Michigan farmer and horse breeder 
gives his experience in regard to silage for horses as 
follows : "Last year we had nearly two hundred horses, 
including Clydesdales, standard-bred trotters, and Shet- 
land ponies. They were wintered entirely upon straw 
and com silage, and this in face of the fact that I had 
read a long article in a prominent horse journal caution- 
ing farmers from the use of silage, and citing instances 



198 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

where many animals had died, and brood mares had 
aborted from the liberal use of corn silage. 

"Desiring to test the matter to the fullest extent, 
our stallions and brood mares, as well as all the young 
stock, we fed two full rations of silage daily, and one 
liberal ration of wheat or oat straw. The result with 
our brood mares was most phenomenal, for we now 
have to represent every mare that was in foal on the 
farm a weanling, strong and vigorous, and apparently 
right in every way, with only one exception, where the 
colt was lost by accident. Of course there may have been 
something in the season more favorable than usual, but 
this was the first year in my experience when every colt 
dropped on the farm was saved." 

The following experience as to the value of silage 
as a food for horses and other farm animals comes from 
the Ohio Station: "Our silo was planned and filled with 
special reference to our dairy stock, but after opening 
the silo we decided to try feeding the silage to our horses, 
calves and hogs. The result was eminently satisfactory. 
We did not find a cow, calf, horse, colt, or hog that re- 
fused to eat, or that did not eat it with apparent relish, 
not only for a few days, but for full two months. The 
horses were given one feed of twenty pounds each per 
day in place of the usual amount of hay, for the period 
above named, and it was certainly a benefit. Their appe- 
tites were sharpened, and the healthfulness of the food 
was further manifest in the new coat of hair which came 
with the usual spring shedding. The coat was glossy, 
the skin loose, and the general appearance was that of 
horses running upon pasture." 

Several letters appeared in Breeders Gazette during 
1912 on this subject. An Iowa writer, A. L. Mason, states 
that he has fed silage to horses for seven winters with 
no injurious effects. He fed once a day, from 20 to 40 
pounds according to size of horse and 10 pounds to suck- 
ling colts. Another Iowa writer, F. A. Huddlestum, after 
five years' feeding, to everything on the farm — stallions. 



SILAGE FOR MULES. 199 

mares in foal and colts— reports excellent results. , He 
says: "I am now wintering 20 draft' brood mares outdoors 
and their ration is 20 pounds silage once a day, five ears 
corn twice a day, and some tame hay in the rack. I have 
never seen any that looked better." Geo. McLeod, of 
Iowa, writes: "We keep about 50 horses and ail are fed 
silage. The work horses are each fed a bushel basketful 
and so is the Shire stallion. No bad effects. The boys 
are careful that no moldy silage goes to the horses." 
Another writer, B. D. R., says, "I am feeding 9 head, in- 
cluding a registered stallion, five colts of various ages and 
three work horses. I give each horse and colt a peck of 
silage a day." These writers without exception warn 
against the use of moldy silage. 

Mr. P. W. Moir, a well known Iowa breeder of pure 
bred horses, erected a large silo in 1911 for feeding horses 
exclusively. As to results he stated that "It has been 
very satisfactory, as I had the very choicest of silage. 
We fed it to the brood mares, as well as the colts, and 
they did fine with it and came out in the spring looking 
good. Other neighbors around here feed it and I have 
heard of no bad results. I have broken up one of my 
pastures, as I can get along without the grass and I 
expect to have enough corn from this pasture to fill both 
silos." 

Silage for Mules.— What has been said about silage 
as a food for horses will most likely apply equally well 
to mules, although only very limited experience has so far 
been gained with silage for this class of farm animals. 

Results of a test made at the N. C. Experiment Sta- 
tion, Raleigh, N. C, showed "that work mules will eat 
20 to 30 pounds of corn silage per day and when the 
ration is properly balanced by the use of other feed-stuffs 
that 21/2 to 3 lbs. of silage could be substituted for 1 lb. 
of clover hay or cow pea hay. Results show that silage 
and ear corn or silage or corn and cobmeal is not so 
satisfactory as silage and a grain ration higher in protein 
value such as bran, cottonseed-meal or oilmeal." 



200 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 



Silage for Sheep, 

Despite tlie popular conception that silage is more or 
less dangerous to feed to sheep, especially breeding ewes, 
its great value and entire safety has been demonstrated 
as a fact by long and careful tests at the experiment 
stations, notably at the Purdue Station. The evidence is 
conclusive that from the standpoints of palatability, suc- 
culence and economy no other feed can compare with 
good silage. Succulence, probably the most important 
element in the winter ration of the breeding ewe, is neces- 
sary to secure or maintain the freshness, vigor and health 
so desirable in the flock. 

Though good silage may be a safe and desirable feed, it 
does not follow that silage which is extremely acid, 
spoiled or decomposed, is not dangerous or even deadly 
in its effects when fed to lambs. Some time after the 
close of one of the early experiments at Purdue, four 
lambs died from the effects, supposedly of eating spoiled 
or decomposed silage. The cause was assigned to poison- 
ous products resulting from decomposition of the silage,' 
which was favored by the exposure of the silage to the 
air in warm weather and the low condition of the silo. 

Feeding an abnormal amount of silage, close confine- 
ment, lack of exercise and lack of an experienced shep- 
herd to handle the ewes at lambing time often prevent 
maximum results, and silage feeding has for this reason 
been unjustly condemned at times. 

The Indiana Station has been conducting experiments 
with feeding silage to pregnant ewes since 1907. A three 
year experiment was commended that year with two lots 
of ewes, one lot being fed silage along with hay and grain 
and the other lot hay and more grain, but no silage. The 
silage ration was limited the first year, increased to 4 
pounds the second year, and the third year the ewes 
were given all they would clean up, which was practically 
4.6 pounds. Even with this amount no harmful results 
were observed either in the ewes or the lambs. 



SILAGE FOR SHEEP. 201 

The experiment showed that the general thrift and 
appetite of the silage ewes was superior to that of the lots 
fed hay and grain alone. The former made each year a 
larger gain over winter than did those on dry feed. The 
latter averaged for the three years a gain of 6 pounds, 
while the silage ewes gained 13.75 pounds, or more than 
twice as much. Yet the Station Bulletin states definitely 
that this gain was not mere fat like corn feeding will 
produce, but that the ewes were in good condition to 
produce strong, vigorous lambs. It was a noticeable fact, 
that "right stre ,ht through the whole three years, the 
lambs from the ewes having the succulent feed, i. e., 
silage, averaged nearly ten per cent, larger at birth. As 
to the cost of feed, the ration including silage proved the 
more economical, while more satisfactory results were ob- 
tained. The lambs from these two lots of ewes were all 
fed out for an early market, and those from each lot did 
equally well, gaining nearly half a pound per day until 
they were sold." 

Prof. King says that the same station has also "tested 
the value of corn silage for fattening lambs and found 
that the lambs were very easily kept on feed, made as 
rapid gains and finished as well as lambs fed rations not 
containing silage. The average of three trials at that 
station showed that there was an average reduction in 
cost of gain of 61 cents per hundred pounds." 

The Indiana Station Bulletins Nos. 147 and 162 give 
detailed information regarding tests they have conducted. 

William Foy, of Foy & Townsend, Sycamore, 111., 
probably the most extensive silage feeders in the world, 
feeds 20,000 sheep and lambs a year on his 1400 acre 
farm. He makes silage his principal feed and uses thou- 
sands of tons. Even during the winter of 1910-11, so 
disastrous in mutton feeding operations, his stock actually 
paid out. Foy said: "The use of silage last winter 
averted a loss of approximately $1 per head on the entire 
output of our plant; in other words, it earned us that 
much money. * * * you cannot feed hay to sheep or 



202 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

cattle at $15 to $17 a ton. Even if it -j^ere possible, that 
policy would be questionable when a ton of silage pro- 
duces as many pounds of gain as a ton of hay and costs 
$3 to $4. Weight for weight, I prefer silage as it is 
more palatable. With hay at current abnormal prices we 
would have been forced out of business had silage not 
been available." 

Speaking of the advantages of silage, Mr. Foy says: 
"It saves one-third of the corn that would be iieeded if 
only hay was used as roughage, and obviates the use of 
hay entirely. The stock is maintained in healthy condi- 
tion; in fact, I never had a sick sheep or even a lamb 
while feeding silage. When starting them on it, care is 
necessary, but once accustomed to the feed, they thrive. 
I figure at a 10-ton yield the product of an acre of silage 
to be worth $50, and allowing $15 for cost of production 
we get approximately $35 out of an acre of corn. What 
the resultant manure pile is worth, is open to conjecture. 
I will say, however, that none of mine is for sale, and I 
could dispose of every pound at $1 per ton. The principal 
disadvantage is the lack of finishing quality and extra 
time needed to get the stock in marketable condition. 
This can be remedied by using corn or com meal to put 
on a hard finish and it is our present practice. Saving 
one-third the corn is an item not to be sneezed at in these 
days of big feed bills and narrow margins." 

Anthony Gardner of Hutchinson, Kans., one of the 
largest sheep feeders in the state, says silos are indis- 
pensable. He has two concrete silos aggregating 1300 
tons capacity and uses silage for sheep exclusively. It 
not only increases his profits per lamb, but enables him 
to more than double his operations. During the winter 
of 1911-12, Mr. Gardner fattened 10,000 lambs on silage. 
Without this feed, he states that 4,000 would have been 
his limit. Aside from this feature the silo saved his corn 
crop from the hot winds of 1911 and allowed him to make 
the best use of the kafir he grew that season. Mr. 
Gardner's feeding operations are on $100 land — too high- 



SILAGE FOR SHEEP. 203 

priced for pasturage or range purposes. In the fall of 
1910 his silos were filled with corn, and 7,500 lambs were 
fattened with ensilage and grain. Corn, was also the 
principal crop in 1911, but to test out kafir, he topped 
off one of the silos with 100 tons of it, and it proved so 
successful that in 1912 he planted 80 acres to kafir and 
cow peas sowed together, which on account of the in- 
creased bulk is about a third of what it took in acreage 
to fill with last year's corh crop. Mr. Gardner's silos cost 
about $1,000 each, and their owner figures that they cut 
nearly a third off the cost of his yearly feeding opera- 
tions. He feeds ordinarily two pounds of silage and l^A 
pounds of grain a day (corn, bran and cottonseed meal) 
with kafir fodder for roughage. 

After marketing his 10,000 lambs early in 1912, he was 
offered $6.50 a ton for silage remaining on hand, but in- 
stead of selling, he picked up a bunch of 1,800 poorly 
wintered lambs at low figures which by means .of silage 
he estimated later in the season would bring him a profit 
of about $1.50 per head. 

Silage is looked upon with great favor among sheep 
men, says Prof. Woll in his Bopk on Silage; sheep do 
well on it, and silage-fed ewes drop their lambs in the 
spring without trouble, the lambs being strong and vigor- 
ous. Silage containing a good deal of corn is not well 
adapted for breeding stock, as it is too fattening; for 
fattening stock, on the other hand, much corn in the 
silage is an advantage. Sheep may be fed a couple of 
pounds of silage a day and not to exceed five or six 
pounds per head. Prof. Cook reports as follows in regard 
to the value of silage for sheep: "Formerly I was much 
troubled to raise lambs from grade Merino ewes. Of 
late this trouble has almost ceased. Last spring I hardly 
lost a lamb. While ensilage may not be the entire cause 
of the change, I believe it is the main cause. It is posi- 
tively proved that ensilage is a most valuable food ma- 
terial, when properly fed, for all our domestic animals." 

Mr. J. M. Turner of Michigan says concerning silage 



204 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

for sheep: "Of late years we have annually put up 3,200 
tons of corn ensilage, and this has been the principal 
ration of all the live stock at Springdale Farm, our Shrop- 
shire sheep having been maintained on a ration of en- 
silage night and morning, coupled with a small ration of 
clover hay in the middle of the day. This we found to 
fully meet the requirements of our flock until after lamb- 
ing, from which time forward we of course added liberal 
rations of wheat bran, oats, and old-process linseed meal 
to the ewes, with a view of increasing their flow of milk 
and bringing forward the lambs in the most vigorous 
possible condition. Our flock-master was somewhat 
anxious until after the lambs dropped, but now that he 
saved 196 lambs from 122 ewes, his face is wreathed in 
smiles, and he gives the ensilage system the strongest 
endorsement." 

O. C. Gregg, superintendent of Farmers' Institutes for 
Minnesota, has been conducting some experiments on 
feeding ensilage to sheep. He gives the result in one of 
our American exchanges as follows: 

"The ewes are beautiful to look at, square on the 
back, bright of eye, active in appearance, and when the 
time comes for the feeding of ensilage they are anxious 
for their feed, and in case there is any lapse in time, 
they soon make their wants known by bleating about the 
troughs. The flock has been fed ensilage and good hay 
in the morning, with oat hay in reasonable abundance in 
the afternoon and evening. We have about ninety head 
of breeding ewes, including the lambs referred to, and 
they have been fed two grain sacks full of ensilage each 
day. This is not by any means heavy feeding, and it 
might be increased in quantity. This is a matter which 
we must learn from experience. We have fed the ensilage 
with care, not knowing what the results "v^ould be if fed 
heavily." 

Silage for Swine. 

The testimony concerning the value of silage as a 
food for swine is conflicting, both favorable and unfavor- 



SILAGE FOR SWINE. 205 

able reports being at hand. Many farmers have tried 
feeding it to their hogs, but without success. On the 
other hand, a number of hog-raisers have had good suc- 
cess with silage, and feed it regularly to their swine. It 
is possible that the difference in the quality of the silage 
and of the methods of feeding practiced explain the 
diversity of opinions formed concerning silage as hog 
food. According to Professor Cook, Col. F. D. Curtiss, 
the great American authority on the swine industry, 
states that silage is valuable to add to the winter rations 
of our swine. Mr. J. W. Pierce of Indiana writes in re- 
gard to silage for hogs: "We have fed our sows, about 
twenty-five in number, for four winters, equal parts of 
ensilage and corn meal put into a cooker, and brought 
up to a steaming state. It has proved to be very beneficial 
to them. It keeps up the flow of milk of the sows that 
are nursing the young, equal to when they are running 
on clover. We find, too, when the pigs are farrowed, they 
become more robust, and take to nursing much sooner 
and better than they did in winters when fed on an 
exclusively dry diet. We also feed it to our sheep. To 
sixty head we put out about six bushels of ensilage." Dr. 
Bailey, the author of "The Book on Ensilage," fed large 
hogs ten pounds of silage, and one pound of wheat bran, 
with good results; the cost of the ration did not exceed 
2 cents per day. He states that clover silage would be 
excellent and would require no additional grain. Young 
pigs are exceedingly fond of silage. Feeding experiments 
conducted at Virginia Experiment Station show that silage 
is an economical maintenance feed for hogs, when fed in 
connection with corn, but not when fed alone. 

In feeding silage to hogs, care should be taken to feed 
only very little, a pound or so, at the start, mixing it with 
corn meal, shorts, or other concentrated feeds. The diet 
of the hog should be largely made up of easily digested 
grain food; bulky, coarse feeds like silage can only be fed 
to advantage in small quantities, not to exceed three or 



206 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

four pounds per head per day. As in case of breeding 
ewes, silage will give good results when fed with care to 
brood sows, keeping the system in order, and producing a 
good flow of milk. 

Silage for Poultry. 

But little experience is at hand as to the use of silage 
as a poultry food; some farmers, however, are feeding a 
little silage to their poultry with good success. Only 
small quantities should, of course, be fed, and it is bene- 
ficial as a stimulant and a regulator, as much as food. 
A poultry raiser writes as follows in Orange Judd Farmer, 
concerning his experience in making and feeding silage 
to fowls. Devices similar to that here described have 
repeatedly been explained in the agricultural press: 
"Clover and corn silage is one of the best winter foods 
for poultry raisers. Let me tell you how to build four 
silos for $1. Buy four coal-oil barrels at the drug store, 
burn them out on the inside, and take the heads out. 
Go to the clover field when the second crop of the small 
June clover is in bloom, and cut one-half to three-eighths 
of an inch in length, also one-half ton of sweet corn, and 
run this through the feed cutter. Put into the barrel a 
layer of clover, then a layer of corn. Having done this, 
take a common building jack-screw and press the silage 
down as firmly as possible. Then put on this a very light 
sprinkling of pulverized charcoal, and keep on putting in 
clover and corn until you get the barrel as full as will 
admit of the cover being put back. After your four 
barrel silos are filled, roll them out beside the barn, and 
cover them with horse manure, allowing them to remain 
there thirty days. Then put them away, covering with 
cut straw or hay. When the cold, chilling winds of De- 
cember come, open one of these 'poultrymen's silos,' take 
about twenty pounds for one hundred hens, add equal 
parts of potatoes, ground oats, and winter rye, place same 
in a kettle and bring to a boiling state. Feed warm in 
the morning and the result will be that you will be en- 



CORN SILAGE COMPARED TO ROOTS. 207 

abled to market seven or eight dozen eggs per day from 
one hundred hens through the winter, when eggs bring 
good returns." 

Additional Testimony as to the Value 
of Silage, 

Corn silage compared with root crops. — Root crops are 
not grown to any large extent in this country, but occa- 
sionally an old-country farmer is met with who grows 
roots for his stock, because his father did so, and his 
grandfather and great-grandfather before him. This is 
what a well'-known English writer, H. Henry Rew, says 
as to the comparative value of roots and silage, from the 
standpoint of an English farmer: 

"The root crop has, for about a century and a half, 
formed the keystone of arable farming; yet it is the root 
crop whose position is most boldly challenged by silage. 
No doubt roots are expensive — say £10 per acre as the 
€ost of producing an ordinary crop of turnips — and pre- 
carious, as the experience of the winter of 1887-8 has once 
more been notably exemplified in many parts of the coun- 
try. In a suggestive article in the Farming World Almanac 
for 1888, Mr. Primrose McConnell discusses the question: 
"Are Turnips a Necessary Crop?' and sums up his answer 
in the following definite conclusion: 

" 'Everything, in short, is against the use of roots, 
either as a cheap and desirable food for any kind of live 
stock, as a crop suited for the fallow break, which cleans 
the land at little outlay, or as one which preserves or 
increases the fertility of the soil.' 

"If the growth of turnips is abandoned or restricted, 
ensilage comes in usually to assist the farmer in supply- 
ing their place. * * * When one comes to compare 
the cultivation of silage crops with that of roots, there 
are two essential points in favor of the former. One is 
their smaller expense, and the other is their practical 
certainty. The farmer who makes silage can make cer- 



208 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

tain of his winter store of food, whereas he who has only 
his root crop may find himself left in the lurch at a time 
when there is little chance of making other provision." 

We have accurate information as to the yields and 
cost of production of roots and corn silage in this country 
from a number of American Experiment Stations. This 
shows that the tonnage of green or succulent feed per 
acre is not materially different in case of the two crops, 
generally speaking. But when the quantities of dry mat- 
ter harvested in the crop are considered, the corn has 
been found to yield about twice as much as the ordinary 
root crops. According to data published by the Pennsyl- 
vania Station, the cost of an acre of beets in the pit 
amounts to about $56, and of an acre of corn in the silo 
about $21, only half the quantities of food materials ob- 
tained, and at more than double the cost. 

When the feeding of these two crops has been deter- 
mined, as has been the case in numerous trials at experi- 
ment stations, it has been found that the dry matter of 
beets certainly has no higher, and in many cases has 
been found to have a lower, value than that of corn 
silage; the general conclusion to be drawn, therefore, is 
that "beets cost more to grow, harvest and store, yield 
less per acre, and produce at best no more and no better 
milk or other farm product than corn silage." 

Corn silage compared with iiay. — A ton and a half of 
hay per acre is generally considered a good average crop 
in humid regions. Since hay contains about 86 per cent, 
dry matter, a crop of l^/^ tons means 2,580 pounds of dry 
matter. Against this yield we have yields of 5,000 to 
9,000 pounds of dry matter, or twice to three and a half 
times as much, in case of fodder corn. An average crop 
of green fodder will weigh twelve tons of Northern varie- 
ties and eighteen tons of Southern varieties. Estimating 
the percentage of dry matter in the former at 30 per cent., 
and in the latter at 20 per cent., we shall have in either 
case a yield of 7,200 pounds of dry matter. If we allow 
for 10 per cent, of loss of dry matter in the silo there is 



CORN SILAGE COMPARED TO HAY. 209 

still 6,500 pounds of dry matter to be credited to the corn. 
The expense of growing the corn crop is, of course, higher 
than that of growing hay, but by no means sufficiently so 
to offset the larger yields. It is a fact generally conceded 
by all who have given the subject any study, that the hay 
crop is the most expensive crop used for the feeding of 
our farm animals. 

The late Sir John B. Lawes, of Rothamsted Experiment 
Station (England) said, respecting the relative value of 
hay and (grass) silage: "It is probable that when both 
(i. e., hay and silage) are of the very best quality that 
can be made,' if part of the grass is cut and placed in 
the silo, and another part is secured in the stack without 
rain, one might prove as good food as the other. But it 
must be borne in mind that while the production of good 
hay is a matter of uncertainty — from the elements of 
success being beyond the control of the farmer — good 
silage, by taking proper precautions, can be made with 
certainty." 

A few feeding experiments with corn silage vs. hay 
will be mentioned in the following: 

In an experiment with milch cows conducted at the 
New Hampshire Station, the silage ration, containing 16.45 
pounds of digestible matter, produced 21.0 pounds of milk, 
and the hay ration, containing 16.83 pounds digestible 
matter, produced 18.4 pounds milk; calculating the quan- 
tities of milk produced by 100 pounds of digestible matter 
in either case, we find on the silage ration, 127.7 pounds 
of milk, on the hay ration, 109.3 pounds, or 17 per cent, 
in favor of the silage ration. 

In a feeding experiment with milch cows at the Maine 
Station, in which silage likewise was compared with hay, 
the addition of silage to the ration resulted in a somewhat 
increased production of milk solids, which was not caused 
by an increase in the digestible food materials eaten, but 
which must have been due either to the superior value 
of the nutriments of the silage over those of the hay or 
to the general psychological effect of feeding a great 

14 



210 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

variety of foods. 8.8 pounds of silage proved to be some- 
what superior to 1.98 pounds of hay (mostly timothy), 
the quantity of digestible material being the same in the 
two cases. 

In another experiment, conducted at the same station, 
where silage was compared with hay for steers, a pound 
of digestible matter from the corn silage produced some- 
what more growth than a pound of digestible matter from 
timothy hay. The difference was small, however, amount- 
ing in the case of the last two periods, where the more 
accurate comparison is possible, to an increased growth 
of only 15 pounds of live weight for each ton of silage fed. 

Corn silage compared with fodder corn. — The cost of 
production is the same for the green fodder up to the 
time of siloing, in case of both systems; as against the 
expense of siloing the crop comes that of shocking, and 
later on, placing the fodder under shelter in the field- 
curing process; further husking, cribbing, and grinding 
the corn, and cutting the corn stalks, since this is the 
most economical way of handling the crop, and the only 
way in which it can be fully utilized so as to be of as 
great value as possible for dry fodder. Professor King 
found the cost of placing corn in the silo to be 58.6 cents 
per ton, on the average for five Wisconsin farms, or, add- 
ing to this amount, interest and taxes on the silo invest- 
ment, and insurance and maintenance of silo per ton, 
73.2 cents. The expense of shocking and sheltering the 
cured fodder, and later cutting the same, will greatly 
exceed that of siloing the crop; to obtain the full value 
in feeding the ear corn, it must, furthermore, in most 
cases, be ground, costing ten cents or more a bushel of 
70 lbs. The advantage is, therefore, decidedly with the 
siloed fodder in economy of handling, as well as in the 
cost of production. 

The comparative feeding value of corn silage and 
fodder corn has been determined in a large number of 
trials at different experiment stations. The earlier ones 
of these experiments were made with only a couple of 



SILAGE AS A STOCK FOOD. 211 

animals each, and no reliance can, therefore, be placed 
on the results obtained in any single experiment. In the 
later experiments a large number of cows have been in- 
cluded, and these have been continued for sufficiently 
long time to show what the animals could do on each 
feed. 

A few experiments illustrating the value of silage as 
a stock food may be quoted. Prof. Henry fed two lots 
of steers on a silage experiment. One lot of four steers 
was fed on corn silage exclusively, and another similar 
lot corn silage with shelled corn. The formef lot gained 
222 pounds in thirty-six days, and the latter lot 535 pounds, 
or a gain of 1.5 pounds per day per head for the silage-fed 
steers, "and 3.7 pounds per day for the silage and shelled- 
corn-fed steers. Prof. Emery fed corn silage and cotton- 
seed meal, in the proportion of eight to one, to two three- 
year-old steers, at the North Carolina Experiment Sta- 
tion. The gain made during thirty-two days was, for one 
steer, 78 pounds, and for the other, 85.5 pounds, or 2.56 
pounds per head per day. 

The late well-known Wisconsin dairyman, Hon. Hiram 
Smith, in 1888 gave the following testimony concerning 
the value of silage for milch cows: "My silo was opened 
December 1st, and thirty pounds of ensilage was fed to 
each of the ninety cows for the night's feed, or 2,700 
pounds per day, until March 10, one hundred days, or a 
total of 135 tons, leaving sufficient ensilage to last until 
May 10th. The thirty pounds took and well filled the 
place of ten pounds of good hay. Had hay been fed for 
the night's feed in place of the ensilage, it would have 
required 900 pounds per day for the ninety cows, or a 
total for the one hundred days of forty-five tons. 

"It would have required, in the year 1887, forty-five 
acres of meadow to have produced the hay, which, if 
bought or sold, would have amounted to $14.00 per acre. 
The 135 tons of ensilage were produced on 8^/^ acres of 
land, and had a feeding value, as compared with hay, of 
$74.11 per acre." As the conclusion of the whole matter, 



212 HOW TO FEED SILAGE. 

Mr. Smith stated that "three cows can be wintered seven 
months on one acre producing 16 tons of ensilage, while 
it required two acres of meadow in the same year of 1887 
to winter one cow, with the same amount of ground feed 
in both cases." 

Professor Shelton, formqrly of Kansas Agricultural 
College, gives a powerful plea for silage in the following 
simple statement: "The single fact that the product of 
about two acres of ground kept our herd of fifty cattle 
five weeks with no other feed of the fodder kind, except 
a small ration of corn fodder given at noon, speaks whole 
cyvilopedias for the possibilities of Kansas fields when the 
silo is called in as an adjunct." 

In conclusion. — ^We will bring our discussions of the 
silo and its importance in American agriculture, to a 
close by quoting the opinions of a few recognized leaders 
on agricultural matters as to the value of silo and silage. 

Says Ex-Gov. Hoard, the editor of Hoard's Dairyman, 
and a noted dairy lecturer: "For dairying of all the year 
around the silo is almost indispensable." 

Prof. Hill, the director of Vermont Experiment Station: 
"It was long ago clearly shown that the most economical 
farm-grown carbohydrates raised in New England are de- 
rived from the corn plant, and that they are more econom- 
ically preserved for cattle feeding in the silo than in any 
other way." 

H. C. Wallace, formerly editor Creamery Gazette, now 
business manager Wallace's Farmer: "While not an ab- 
solute necessity, the silo is a great convenience in the 
winter, and in times of protracted dryness almost a neces- 
sity in summer." 

Prof. Carlyle, formerly of Wisconsin Agricultural Col- 
lege, now director Experiment Station, Moscow, Idaho: 
"A silo is a great labor-saving device for preserving the 
cheapest green fodder in the best form." 

C. P. Goodrich, conductor of Farmers' Institutes in 
Wisconsin, and a well-known lecturer and authority on 
dairy topics: "A farmer can keep cows profitably without 



ECONOMY IN PRODUCTION OF FEED MATERIALS. 213 

a silo, but he can make more profit with one, because he 
can keep his cows with less expense and they will produce 
more." 

Prof. Deane, of Ontario Agricultural College: "The silo 
is becoming a greater necessity every year in Ontario." 

Thus it will be seen that from all parts of the world 
wherever the silo is in use, the evidence points in favor 
of silage, there no longer being an argument against it, 
in connection with the dairy, and especially in latitudes 
where corn can be grown. 

Economy in production of feed materials means in- 
creased profits. Competition establishes the price at which 
the farmer and dairyman must market his products; but 
by the study of approved and modern methods the farmer 
can regulate his profits. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A FEEDERS' GUIDE. 

It, has been thought best, in order to increase the use- 
fulness of this little book to practical farmers, to add to 
the specific information given in the preceding pages as 
to the making and feeding of silage, a brief general out- 
line of the main principles that should govern the feeding 
of farm animals. This will include a statement of the 
character of the various components of the feeding stuffs 
used for the nutrition of farm stock, with tables of com- 
position, and a glossary of scientific or technical terms 
often met with in agricultural papers, experiment station 
reports, and similar publications. Many of these terms 
are used constantly in discussions of agricultural topics, 
and unless the farmer has a fairly clear idea of their 
meaning, the discussions will often be of no value to him. 
The information given in the following is put in as plain 
and simple language as .possible, and only such facts are 
given as are considered of fundamental importance to the 
feeder of farm stock. 

Composition of the Animal Body. 

The most important components of the animal body 
are: Water, ash, protein, and fat. We shall briefly de- 
scribe these components. 

Water is found in larger quantities in the animal body 
than any other substance. It makes up about a third to 
nearly two-thirds of the live weight of farm animals. The 
fatter the animal is, the less water is found in its body. 
We may consider 50 per cent, of the body weight a general 
average for the water content of the body of farm animals." 
When it comes to animal products used for food purposes, 
there are wide variations in the water content; from be- 
tween 80 and 90 per cent, in case of milk, to between 40 
and 60 per cent, in meat of various kinds, about 12 per 
cent, in butter, and less than 10 per cent, in fat salt pork. 

Ash or mineral matter is that portion of the animal 
body which remains behind when the body is burned. 
The bones of animals contain large quantities of mineral 
matter, while the muscles and other parts of the body 

214 



COMPOSITION OF FEEDING STUFFS. 215 

contain only small amounts'; it must not be concluded, 
however, that the ash materials are of minor importance 
for this reason; both young and full-grown animals require 
a constant supply of ash materials in their food; if the 
food should not contain a certain minimum amount of ash 
materials, and of various compounds contained therein 
which are essential to life, the animal will very soon turn 
sick, and if the deficiency is not made tp will die, no 
matter how much of other food components may be sup- 
plied. As both ash and water are either present in suffi- 
cient quantities in feeding stuffs, or can be easily supplied, 
the feeder does not ordinarily need to give much thought 
to these components in the selection of foods for his 
stock. 

Protein is not the name of any single substance, but 
for a large group of very complex substances that have 
certain characteristics in common, the more important of 
which is that they all contain the element nitrogen. 
Hence these substances are also known as nitrogenous 
components. The most important protein substances found 
in the animal body are: lean meat, fibrin, all kinds of 
tendons, ligaments, nerves, skin, brain, in fact the entire 
working machinery of the animal body. The casein of 
milk and the white of the egg are, furthermore, protein 
substances. It is evident from the enumeration made that 
protein is to the animal body what the word implies, the 
most important, tlie first. 

Fat is a familiar component of the animal body; it is 
distributed throughout the body in ordinary cases, but is 
found deposited on certain organs, or under the skin, in 
thick layers, in the case of very fait animals. 

The animal cannot, as is well known, live on air; it 
must manufacture its body substances and products from 
the food it eats, hence the next subject for consideration 
should be: 

Composition of Feeding Stuffs, 

The feeding stuffs used for the nutrition of our farm 
animals are, generally speaking, composed of similar com- 
pounds as those which are found in the body of the animal 
itself, although the components in the two cases are rarely 
identical, but can be distinguished from each other in 
most cases by certain chemical reactions. The animal 
body through its vital functions has the faculty of chang- 
ing the various food substances which it finds in the food 
in such a way that they are in many instances different 
from any substances found in the vegetable world. 



216 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 

The components of feeding stuffs which are generally 
enumerated and taken into account in ordinary chemical 
fodder analysis, or in discussions of feeding problems are: 
Water (or moisture, as it is often called), ash materials, 
fat (or ether-extract), protein, fiber, and nitrogen-free 
extract; the two components last given are sometimes 
grouped together under the name carbohydrates, these 
components are in nearly all cases mixtures of substances 
that possess certain properties in common; and as the 
mixtures are often made up of different components or of 
the same components in varying proportions, it follows 
that even if a substance is given in a table of composition 
of feeding stuffs, in the same quantities m -case of two 
different feeds, these feeds do not necessarily have the 
same food value as far as this component alone is con- 

Water or moisture is found in all feeding stuffs, 
whether succulent or apparently dry. Green fodders con- 
tain from 60 to 90 per cent, of water, according to the 
stage of maturity of the fodder; root crops contain be- 
tween 80 and 90 per cent., while hay of different kmds, 
straw, and concentrated feeds ordinarily have water con- 
tents ranging between 20 and 5 per cent. 

Ash or mineral matter is found in all plant tissues and 
feeding stuffs. We find most ash in leafy plants, or in 
refuse feeds made up from the outer covering of grains or 
other seeds, viz., from 4 to 8 per cent.; less f /he cereals 
and green fodder, and least of all m roots. A fair amount 
of ash materials is a necessity in feedmg yo^^/^«tock and 
pregnant animals, and only limited amount of foods low m 
ash should be fed to such animals; refuse feed from starch 
and glucose factories which have ^^^en treated with large 
quantities of water should, therefore, be fed with care m 

^"""^Faforether-Qxtract is the portion of the feeding stuff 
which is dissolved by ether or benzine. It j found m 
. large quantities in the oil-bearmg seeds, more than one- 
third of these being composed of oil or fat; the oil-mill 
refuse feeds are also rich in fat ^«Pf ^^H^ ,^j"°?f tn 
meal and old-process linseed f ^^1^ ^the^feeds rich in 
fat are gluten meal and feed, dried distillers grains, and 
rice meal The ether-extract of the coarse fodders con- 
Sins Considerable wax, resins, and other substances which 
have a low feeding value, while that of the seeds and by- 
products from these are essentially pure fat or oil. 
^ Protein or flesh-forming substances are considered of 
the highest importance in feeding animals, because they 
supply the material required for building up the tissues 



COMPOSITION OF FEEDING STUFFS. 217 

of the body, and for maintaining these under the wear 
caused by the vital functions. Ordinarily the feed rations 
of most farmers are deficient in protein since most of the 
farm-grown foods (aside from clover, alfalfa, peas and 
similar crops) contain only small amounts of these sub- 
stances. The feeding stuifs richest in protein are, among 
the coarse foods, those already mentioned; among the 
concentrated foods; cottonseed meal, linseed meal, gluten 
meal, gluten feed, buckwheat middlings, and the flour-mill, 
brewery, and distillery refuse feeds. The protein sub- 
stances are also called nitrogenous bodies for the reasons 
given above, and the other organic (combustible) compo- 
nents in the feeding stuffs are spoken of as non-nirtoge- 
nous substances. The non-nitrogenous components of feed- 
ing stuffs, therefore, include fat and the two following 
groups, fiber and nitrogen-free . extract. 

Crude fiber (or simply fiber) is the framework of the 
plants, forming the walls of the cells. It is usually the 
least digestible portion of plants and vegetable foods, and 
the larger proportion present thereof the less valuable the 
food is. We find, accordingly, that the fodders containing 
most fiber are the cheapest foods and least prized by 
feeders, as, e. g., straw of the various cereal and seed-pro- 
ducing crops, corncobs, oats and rice hulls, cottonseed 
hulls, buckwheat hulls, and the like. These feeding stuffs, 
in so far as they can be considered as such, contain as 
a rule between 35 and 50 per cent, of fibre. Concentrated 
feeding stuffs, on the other hand, generally contain less 
than 10 per cent of fiber, and in all cereals but oats only 
a few per cent, of fiber are found. 

Nitrogen-free extract is a general name for all that is 
left of the organic matter of plants and fodders after de- 
ducting the preceding groups of compounds. It includes 
some of the most valuable constituents of feeding stuffs, 
which make up the largest bulk of the food materials; 
first in importance among these constituents are starch 
and sugar, and, in addition, a number of less well-known 
substances of similar composition, like pentosans, gums, 
organic acids, etc. Together with fiber the nitrogen-free 
extract forms the group of substances known as carbo- 
iiyd rates. A general name for carbohydrates is heat-pro- 
ducing substances, since this is one important function 
which they fill; they are not as valuable for this purpose, 
pound for pound, as fat, which also is often used for the 
purpose by the animal organism, but on account of the 
large quantities in which the carbohydrates are found in 
most feeding stuff's they form a group of food materials 
second to none in importance. Since it has been found 



218 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 

that fat will produce on combustion about 214 times as 
much heat as carbohydrates, the two components are 
often considered together in tables of composition of feed- 
ing stuffs and in discussions of the feeding value of dif- 
ferent foods, the per cent, of fat being multiplied by 2y^ 
in such cases, and added to the per cent, of carbohydrates 
(i. e., fiber plus nitrogen-free extract) in the foods. As 
this renders comparisons much easier, and simplifies calcu- 
lations for the beginner, we shall adopt this plan in the 
tables and discussions given in this Guide. 

Carbohydrates and fat not only supply heat on being 
oxidized or burned in the body, but also furnish materials 
for energy used in muscular action, whether this be volun- 
tary or involuntary. They also in all probability are 
largely used for the purpose of storing fatty tissue in the 
body of fattening animals, or of other animals that are 
fed an excess of nutrients above what is required for the 
production of the necessary body heat and muscular 
force. 

To summarize briefly the use of the various food ele- 
ments: Protein is required for building up muscular tissue, 
and to supply the breaking-down and waste of nitrogenous 
components constantly taking plac.e in the living body. If 
fed in excess of this requirement it is used for production 
of heat and energy. The non-nitrogenous organic compo- 
nents, i. e., carbohydrates and fat, furnish material for 
supply of heat and muscular exertion, as well as for the 
production of fat in the body or in the milk, in case of 
milk-producing animals. 

Digestibility of foods. — Only a certain portion of a 
feeding stuff is of actual value to the animal, viz., the 
portion which the digestive juices of the animal can render 
soluble, and thus bring into a condition in which the 
system can make the use of it called for; this digestible 
portion ranges from one-half or less to more than 96 per 
cent, in case of highly digestible foods. The rest is simply 
ballast, and the more ballast, i. e., the less of digestible 
matter a food contains, the more the value of the digest- 
ible portion is reduced. Straw, e. g., is found, by means 
of digestion experiments, to contain between 30 and 40 
per cent, of digestible matter in all, but it is very doubtful 
whether an animal can be kept alive for any length of 
time when fed straw alone. It very likely costs him more 
effort to extract the digestible matter therefrom than the 
energy this can supply. An animal lives on and produces 
not from what he eats but from what he digests and 
assimilates. 

Relative value of feeding stuffs. Since the prices of 



CLASSIFICATION OF CATTLE FOODS. 



219 



different feeding stuffs vary greatly with the locality and 
season, it is impossible to give definite statements as to 
the relative economy which will always hold good; it n;iay 
be said, in general, that the feeding stuffs richest in 
protein are our most costly and at the same time oui 
most valuable foods. Experience has shown to a certainty 
that a liberal supply of protein is an advantage in feeding 
most classes of farm animals, so that if such feeding stuffs 
can be obtained at fair prices, it will pay to feed them 
quite extensively, and they must enter into all food rations 
in fair quantities in order that the animals may produce 
as much milk, meat, or other farm products, as is neces- 
sary to render them profitable to their owner. The fol- 
lowing statement shows a classification of feeding stuffs 
which may prove helpful in deciding upon kinds and 
amounts of feeds to be purchased or fed. 

CLASSIFICATION OF CATTLE FOODS. 



A. COARSE FEEDS. 



Low in protein. 

High in carbo- 
hydrates. 

50 to 65 per cent, 
digestible. 



Medium in protein. 

Medium in carbo- 
hydrates. 

55 to 65 per cent, 
digestible. 



Low in protein. 

High in carbo- 
hydrates. 

85 to 95 per cent, 
digestible. 



Hays, straws, 
corn fodder, 
corn stover, 
silage, cereal 
fodders. 



Clovers, alfalfa, 
pasture grass, 
vetches, pea 
and bean fod- 
der. 



Carrots, potatoes, 

sugar beets, 

mangolds, 

turnips. 



The Feed Unit System, 

This system furnishes a convenient and accurate 
method of comparing the feed consumption of different 
farm animals and of determining the relative economy of 
their production. It has been found, for example in the 
case of dairy cows, that some cows produce a certain 
amount of milk and butter-fat much more cheaply than 
others, so far as their feed consumption is concerned; 



220 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 

CLASSIFICATIOlSr OF CATTLE FOODS CONTII^UED. 



B. CONCENTRATES. 



Very high 


High in pro- 


Fairly high in 


Low in 


in protein 


tein 


protein 


protein 


(above 40 per 


{25-40 per 


{12-25 per 


{'below 12 per 


cent.) 


cent.) 


cent.) 


cent.) 


Dried blood. 


Gluten meal. 


Malt sprouts. 


Wheat. 


Meat scraps. 


Atlas meal. 


Gluten feed. 


Barley. 


Cotton-seed 


Linseed meal. 


Cow pea. 


Oats. 


meal. 


Buckwheat 


Pea meal. 


Eye. 




middlings. 


Wheat shorts. 


Corn. 




Buckwheat 


Eye shorts. 


Eiee polish. 




shorts. 


Oat shorts. 


Eice. 




Soja-bean. 


Wheat 


Hominy 




Grano -gluten. 


middlings. 


chops or 




Dried 


Wheat bran. 


feed. 




distillers ' 


Low-grade 


Germ meal. 




grains. 


flour. 


Oat feeds. 




Dried 








brewers ', 








grains. 







they are economical producers and should preferably be 
used for dairy production and as foundation stock for the 
dairy. Heifer cows from such cows will be likely to be 
large and profitable producers. By the feed unit system 
a simple, definite figure is obtained for the total feed 
eaten by farm animals, including that eaten on pasture. 

An example will readily illustrate the application of 
the system. For instance, it has been found that 1.1 
pounds of .wheat bran, or 2.5 pounds of hay of average 
quality, can be substituted to a limited extent for a pound 
of grain in ordinary dairy rations, without changing ap- 
preciably the yield or the composition of the milk pro- 
duced by the cows, or influencing their live weights or 
general condition. These quantities of the different feeds 
are, therefore, considered of similar value and equivalent 
to one feed unit. If a cow ate 750 pounds of hay, 150 
pounds of bran, and 90 pounds of ground corn during a 
certain month, she received 750 divided by 2.5, or 300 
feed units, in the hay eaten, 150 divided by 1.1 or 136 in 
the bran, and 90 in the ground corn, making a total of 526 
feed units eaten. 

If she yielded one pound of butter-fat a day in her 
milk on this feed, or 30 pounds for the month, she pro- 



TABLE OP PEED UNITS. 



221 



duced 30 divided by 526, or 5.70 pounds of butter-fat per 
100 feed units consumed in her feed. There are great 
differences among cows in the returns niade per unit of 
feed, and data obtained as given above show in a striking 
manner whether a cow is an economical producer or 
whether she required an excessive amount of feed to 
make her production. 

Through this information, along with that as to the 
capacity of the cow for dairy production furnished by a 
milk scale and a Babcock tester, a farmer can find out 
definitely the rank of the different cows in the herd as 

TABLE OP FEED UNITS. 



Feeding Stuffs. 


Pounds of Feed re- 

Quii-ed to equal 

1 unit. 


Concentrates 

Com, wheat, rye, barley, hominy feed, dried 
brewers' grains, wheat middlings, oat 
shorts. Peas, Unicorn Dairy Ration, mo- 


Aver- 
ag-e. 

1.0 

0.8 

0.9 

1.1 
1.2 

2.0 

2.5 
3.0 

4.0 

7.0 

8.0 

5.0 

6.0 

4.0 

6.0 

7.0 

8.0 

9.0 

10.0 

12.0 

12.5 


Range. 






Oil meal, Ajax Flakes (dried distillers' 




Wheat bran. qats. dried beet pulp, barley 
feed, malt sprouts, International Sugar 
Feed, Quaker or Sugarota Molasses or 
Dairy Feed, Sucrene Dairy Feed, Badger 
Dairy Feed, Schumacher Stock Feed, mo- 




Alfalfa meal, Victor feed, June Pasture, 




Hay and straw 

A 1 f n 1 fa h a V p1 nvPT h a.v . 


1.5-3.0 


Mixed hay, oat hay, oat and pea hay, barley 
and pea hay red top hay 


2.0-3.0 


Timothy hay, prairie hay, sorghum hay 

Com stover, stalks or fodder, marsh hay, cut 
straw 


2.5-3.5 
3.5-6.0 


Soiling crops, silage and other succulent feeds 
Green alfalfa 


6.0-8.0 


Green corn, sorghum, clover, peas and oats, 
cannery refuse 


7.0-10.0 






Com silage, pea vine silage 


5.0-7.0 


Yyet brewers' grains . 




Potatoes, skim milk, butter milk 






Carrots 




Rutabagas . 


8.0-10.0 






Sugar beet leaves and tops whey 




TnTTii'nc! ma.ns'pl'? frpsh bppt milTi. 


10.0-15.0 


Pasture, 8 to 10 units per day. on the average 
varying with kind and condition. 





222 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 

dairy producers and may thus know whicli ones, if any, 
are not profitable animals and should be sent to the 
butcher. 

Feeding Standards. 

Investigations by scientists have brought to light the 
fact that the different classes of farm animals require 
certain amounts of food materials for keeping the body 
functions in a regular healthy activity; this is known as 
the maintenance ration of the animal, an allowance of 
feed which will cause him to maintain his live weight 
without either gaining or losing, or producing animal 
products like milk, wool, meat, eggs, etc. If the animal 
is expected to manufacture these products in addition, it 
is necessary to supply enough extra food to furnish ma- 
terials for this manufacture. The food requirements for 
different purposes have been carefully studied, and we 
know now with a fair amount of accuracy how much food 
it takes in the different cases to reach the objects sought. 
Since there is a great variety of different foods, and 
almost infinite possible combinations of these, it would 
not do to express these requirements in so and so many 
pounds of corn or oats, or wheat bran, but they are in 
all cases expressed in amounts of digestible protein, carbo- 
hydrates and fat. This enables the feeder to supply these 
food materials in such feeding stuffs as he has on hand 
or can procure. The feeding standards commonly adopted 
as basis for calculations of this kind are those of the 
German scientists, Wolff and Lehmann. Those standards 
give, then, the approximate amount of dry matter, digest- 
ible protein, carbohydrates, and fat which the different 
classes of farm animals should receive in their daily food 
in order to produce maximum returns. We have seen 
that a fair amount of digestible protein in the food is 
essential in order to obtain good results. The proportion 
of digestible nitrogenous to digestible non-nitrogenous 
food substances therefore becomes important. This pro- 
portion is technically known as nutritive ratio, and we 
speak of wide nutritive ratio, when there are six or more 
times as much digestible carbohydrates and fat in a 
ration as there is digestible protein, and of a narrow 
ratio, when the proportion of the two kinds of food ma- 
terials is as 1 to 6, or less. 

The feeding standards given in the following tables 
may serve as a fairly accurate guide in determining the 
food requirements of farm animals; and it will be noticed 
that the amounts are per 1,000 pounds live weight, and 



>v 



A PRACTICAL FEEDING RATION. 223 

not per head, except as noted in the case of growing 
animals. The standards should not be looked upon as 
infallible guides, which they are not, for the simple rea- 
son that different animals differ greatly both in the 
amounts of food that they consume and in the uses which 
they are able to make of the food they eat. The feeding 
standard for milch cows has probably been subjected to 
the closest study by American experiment station work- 
ers, and it has been found, in general, that the Wolff-Leh- 
mann standard calls for more digestible protein (i. e., a 
narrower nutritive ratio) than can be fed with economy 
in most of the dairy sections of our country, at least in 
the central and northwestern states. On basis of investi- 
gations along this line conducted in the early part of the 
nineties. Prof. Woll, of Wisconsin, proposed a so-called 
American practical feeding ration, which calls for the fol- 
lowing amount of digestible food ma,terials in the daily 
ration of a dairy cow of an average weight of 1,000 
pounds. 

Digestible protein 2.2 lbs. 

Digestible carbohydrates 13.3 lbs. 

Digestible fat 7 lbs. 

Total digestible matter * •. 17.1 lbs. 

( protein + carbohydrates + fat X 2 1/4) 
Nutritive ratio 1:6.9 



224 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



FEEDING STANDAUDS FOR FARM ANIMALS. 

(WOLFF-LEHMANN.) 

Per day and per 1000 lbs. live weig-ht. 



q3 


Nutritive 


to 




(Digestible) 
Substances. 


o 


C3 


ii 










r! ■■ ■ 


02 


,+i 


>^ 












M 


S 


cS 




-■gM 












tJ 


l^ 


-C 


« 


3 


O 


Pk 


>s 


W 


^ 


rt 


-§ 


R'^ 


S 


a 






% 


-fi 




H 


5 




H 


H 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


18 


0.7 


8 


01 


8.9 


22 


1.4 


10 


3 


12.1 


25 


2.o: 


11 5 


05 


14.7 


28 


2.8 


13.0 


0.8 


17.7 


30 


2.5|15.0 


0.5 


18.7 


30 


3.0 


14 5 


7 


19.2 


26 


2.V 


15.0 


0.7 


19.4 


25 


1.6 


10 


3 


12.3 


27 


2.0 


11 


04 


14.0 


?M 


2,5 


13 


5 


16.7 


32 


3.3 


13.0 


0.8 


18.2 


20 


1.2 


10 5 


2 


12.2 


23 


1.5 


12.5 


0.3 


14.2 


25 


2.9 


15.0 


0.5 


19.1 


30 


3.0 


18 


05 


19.2 


26 


3.5 


14.0 


0.6 


19.4 


20 


1.5 


9 5 


0.4 


12.0 


24 


2.0 


11 


0.6 


14.5 


26 


2.b 


13.3 


0.8 


17.7 


22 


2.5 


15.5 


0.4 


19.0 


36 


4.5 


?>5 


0.7 


31.2 


32 


4.0 


9A 


5 


29.2 


25 


2.7 


18.0 


0.4 


22.0 


23 


4,0 


13 


2 


21.8 


24 


3.0 


12 8 


1.0 


18.2 


27 


2 


12 5 


5 


15.7 


26 


1 s 


12 5 


0,4 


15.3 


26 


1.5 


12.0 


0.3 


14.2 



1. steers at rest in stall 

" slightly worked 

" moderately worked 

" heavily worked 

2. Fattening- steers, 1st period 

2nd " 

3d " 

3. Milch cows, daily milk yield, 11 lbs. 

" 16.5 " 
" 22 " 
" 27.6 " 

4. Wool sheep, coarser breeds 

" " finer " 

5. Breeding ewes, with lambs 

6. Fattening- sheep, 1st period 

2nd " 

7. Horses lig-htly worked 

" moderately worked 

" heavily worked 

8. Brood sows, with pigs 

9. Fattening swine, 1st period 

2nd " 

" 3d " 

10. Growing cattle : 

DAIRY BREEDS. 

Avr. Live Weight 

Age, Months. Per Head. 

2- 3 154 lbs 

3-6 309 " 

6-12 507 " 

12-18 705 " 

18-24 882 " 



:11.8 

: 7.7 

: 6.5 

: 5.3 

: 6.5' 

: 5.4 

1: 6.2 



1: 6.7 

1: 6.0 

1: 5.7 

1: 4.5 



9.1 
8.5 



1: 5.6 



5.4 
4.5 



1: 7.0 

1: 6.2 

1: 6.0 

1: 6.6 



5.9 
6.3 



1: 7.0 



1: 4.5 
1: 5.1 
1: ft..8 
1: 7.5 
1: 8.5 



FEEDING STANDARDS. 225 

FEEDING STANDARDS FOR FARM ANIMALS — CONTINUED. 







t 


Nutritive 


i 








a 


(Digestible) 


o 








S. 


Substances. 


c 








% 
^ 






6 






1 


1 


1 






>3 


o 


rt 














u 




<< 











P 


^ 


1 >! 


H 


12! 


t 






■-^ 





O^ 


^ 


^ 


.■s 






cS 


-d 


n 


<D 


S 


!- 




'" 


O 


g 


1 


^ 


o 


■g 






EH 


Q 


O 


W 


B 


^ 






lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 




11. 


Growing- cattle : 

BEEF BREEDS. 

Avr. Live Weight 
Age, Months. Per Head. 
















2- 3 165 lbs 


23 


4.2 


13.0 


2.0 


20.0 


1:4.2 




3-6 331 " 


24 


3.5 


12.8 


1.5 


19.9 


1:4.7 




6-12 551 " 


25 


2.5 


13.2 


0.7 


14.4 


1:6.0 




12-18 750 " 


24 


2.0 


12.5 


0.5 


15.7 


1:6.8 




18-24 937 " 


24 


1.8 


12.0 


0.4 


14.8 


1:7.2 


12. 


Growing- sheep : 

WOOL BREEDS, 
















4- 6 60 lbs 


25 


3.4 


15.4 


7 


20.5 


1:5.0 




6-8 75 " 


25 


2.8 


13.8 


0.6 


18.0 


1:5.4 




7-11 84 " 


23 


2.1 


11.5 


0.5 


14.8 


1:6.0 




11-15 90 " 


22 


1.8 


11.2 


0.4 


14.0 


1:7.0 




15-20 99 " 


22 


1.5 


10.8 


0.3 


13.0 


1:7.7 


13. 


Growing sheep : 

MUTTON BREEDS. 
















4- 6 66 lbs 


26 


,4.4 


15.5 


0.9 


22.1 


1:4 




6-8 84 " 


26 


3.5 


15.0 


0.7 


20.2 


1:4.8 




8-11 101 " 


24 


3.0 


14.3 


0.5 


18.5 


1:5.2 




11-15 121 " 


23 


2.2 


12.6 


0.5 


16.0 


1:6.3 




15-20 154 " 


22 


-2.0 


12.0 


0.4 


15.0 


1:6.5 


14. 


Growing swine : 

BREEDING ANIMALS. 
















2- 3 44 lbs 


44 


7.6 


28.0 


1.0 


38.0 


1:4.0 




3-5 99 " 


35 


5.0 


23.1 


8 


30.0 


1:5.0 




5-6 121 " 


32 


3.7 


21.3 


0.4 


26.0 


1:6.0 




6-8 176 " 


28 


2 8 


18.7 


0.3 


22 2 


1:4.0 




8-12 265 " 


25 


2.1 


15.3 


0.2 


17:9 


1:7.5 


15. 


Growing fat pigs: 
















2- 3 44 lbs 


44 


7.6 


28.0 


1.0 


38.0 


1:4.0 




3-5 110 " 


35 


5.0 


23.1 


0.8 


30.0 


1:5.0 




5-6 143 " 


33 


4.3 


22.3 


0.6 


28.0 


1:5.5 




6-8 198 " 


30 


3.6 


20.5 


0.4 


25.1 


1:6.0 




8-12 287 " :. 


26 


3.0 


18.3 


0.3 


22.0 


1:6.4 



15 



226 A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 

How to Figure Out Rations. 

We shall use the practical American feeding ration as 
a basis for figuring out the -food materials which should 
be supplied a dairy cow weighing 1,000 pounds, in order 
to insure a maximum and economical production of milk 
and butter-fat from her. We shall suppose that a farmer 
has the following foods at his disposal: Corn silage, mixed 
timothy and clover hay, and wheat bran; and that he has 
to feed about forty pounds of silage per head daily, in 
order to have it last through the winter and spring. We 
will suppose that he gives his cows, in addition, five 
pounds of hay and about six pounds of bran daily. If 
we now look up in the tables given on pages 237 to 241, 
the amounts of digestible food components contained in 
the quantities given of these feeds, we shall have: 



40 lbs. corn silage, 

5 lbs. mixed hay, 

6 lbs. wheat bran. 



Total 


Digestible Total 


Nut. 


Dry Mtr. 


Pro. Carb. &Fat Dig. Mtr. 


Ratio. 


10.5 lbs. 


.48 lbs. 7.1 lbs. 7.58 




4.2 


.22 2.2 2.42 




5.3 


.72 2.8 3.52 





20.0 1.42 12.1 13.52 1:8.5 

We notice that the ration as now given contains too 
little total digestible matter, there being a deficit of both 
digestible protein, carbohydrates and fat; it will evidently 
be necessary to supply at least a couple of pounds more 
of some concentrated feed, and preferably of a feed rich 
in protein, since the deficit of this component is propor- 
tionately greater than that of the other components. IH 
selecting a certain food to be added and deciding on the 
quantities to be fed, the cost of different available foods 
must be considered. We will suppose that linseed meal 
can be bought at a reasonable price in this case, and will 
add two pounds thereof to the ration. We then have the 
following amounts of digestible matter in the ration: 

Total Digestible Total Nut. 

Dry Mtr. Pro. Carb. & Fat Dig. Mtr. Ratio. 

Eation as above, 20.0 lbs. 1.42 lbs. 12.1 lbs. 13.25 1:6.4 
2 lbs. oil meal (O.P.) 1.8 .62 1.0 1.62 



Total, 21.8 


2.04 


13.1 


16.14 


1:6.4 


Amer. prac. feeding : 










ration, 


2.2 


14.9 


17.1 


1:6.9 


Wolff-Lehmann 










standard, 29.0 


2.5 


14.1 


16.6 


1:5.7 



HOW TO FIGURE OUT RATIONS. 227 

The new ration is still rather light, both in total and 
digestible food materials; for many cows it might prove 
effective as it is, while for others it would doubtless be 
improved by a further addition of some concentrated 
food medium rich in protein, or if grain feeds are high, 
of more hay or silage. The feeding rations are not in- 
tended to be used as infallible standards that must be 
followed blindly, nor could they be used as such. They 
are not only meant to be approximate gauges by which 
the farmer may know whether the ration which he is 
feeding is of about such a composition and furnishes such 
amount of important food materials as are most likely to 
produce best results, cost of feed and returns in products 
as well as condition of animals being all considered. 

In constructing rations according to the above feeding 
standard, several points must be considered besides the 
chemical composition and the digestibility of the feeding 
stuffs; the standard cannot be followed directly without 
regard to bulk and other properties of the fodder; the 
ration must not be too bulky, and still must contain a 
sufficient quantity of roughage to keep up the rumination 
of the animals, in case of cows and sheep, and to secure 
a healthy condition of the animals generally. The local 
market prices of cattle foods are of the greatest impor- 
tance in determining which foods to buy; the conditions 
in the different sections of our great continent differ so 
greatly in this respect that no generalizations can be 
made. Generally speaking, nitrogenous concentrated feeds 
are the cheapest feeds in the South and in the East, and 
flour-mill, brewery, distillery, and starch-factory refuse 
feeds the cheapest in the Northwest. 

The tables given on pages 237 to 241 will be found of 
great assistance in figuring out the nutrients in feed 
rations; the tables have been reproduced from a bulletin 
published by the Vermont Experiment Station, and are 
based upon the latest compilations of analyses of feeding 
stuffs. A few rations are given in the following as 
samples of combinations of different kinds of feed with 
corn silage that will produce good results with dairy 
cows. The rations given on page 194 may also be studied 
to advantage in making up feed rations with silage for 
dairy cows. The experiment stations or other authorities 
publishing the rations are given in all cases. 



228 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



SAMPLE RATIONS FOR DAIRY COWS. 

Massachusetts Experiment St at ion. —Mixtures of grain 
mixtures to be fed with one bushel of silage and hay, or 
with corn stover or hay. 



100 lbs. Bran. 

100 lbs. flour and middlings. 

150 lbs. g-luten feed. 

Mix and feed 7 quarts daily. 



100 lbs. bran. 

100 lbs. flour middlings. 

100 lbs, gluten or cottonseed 

meal. 
Mix and feed 7 to 8 quarts daily. 



lOOHbs. cottonseed or gluten 

meal. 
150 lbs. corn and cob meal. 
100 lbs. bran. 
Mix and feed 7 to 8 quarts 

daily. 



100 lbs. bran or mixed feed. 

150 lbs. gluten feed. 

Mix and feed 9 quarts dally. 



200 lbs. malt sprouts. 
100 lbs. bran. 
100 lbs. gluten feed. 
Mix and feed 10 to 12 qts. 
daily. 



125 lbs. gluten feed. 

100 lbs. corn and cob meal. 

Mix and feed 5 to 6 qts. daily. 



New Jersey Experiment Station: (1) 40 lbs. corn silage 
5 lbs. gluten feed, 5 lbs. dried brewers' grains, 2 lbs. 
wheat bran. 

(2) 35 lbs. corn silage, 5 lbs. mixed hay, 5 lbs. wheat 
bran, 2 lbs. each of oil meal, gluten meal and hominy 
meal. 

(3) 40 lbs. corn silage, 5 lbs. clover hay, 8 lbs. wheat 
bran, 2 lbs. malt sprouts, 1 lb. each of cottonseed meal 
and hominy meal. 

(4) 40 lbs. corn silage, 4 lbs. dried brewers' grain, 
4 lbs. wheat bran, 2 lbs. oil meal. 

Maryland Experiment Station: (1) 40 lbs. silage, 5 lbs. 
clover hay, 9 lbs. wheat middlings, and 1 lb. gluten meal. 

(2) 30 lbs. silage, 8 lbs. corn fodder, 6 lbs. cow pea 
hay, 3 lbs. bran, 2 lbs. gluten meal. 

Michigan Experiment Station: (1) 40 lbs. silage, 8 lbs. 
mixed hay, 8 lbs. .bran, 3 lbs. cottonseed meal, 

(2) 30 lbs. silage, 5 lbs. mixed hay, 4 lbs. corn meal, 
4 lbs. bran, 2 lbs. cottonseed meal, 2 lbs. oil meal. 

(3) 30 lbs. silage, 10 lbs. clover hay, 4 lbs. bran, 4 
lbs. corn meal, 3 lbs. oil meal. 



GRAIN MIXTURES FOR DAIRY COWS. 229 



(4) 30 lbs. silage, 4 lbs. clover bay, 10 lbs. bran. 

Kansas Experiment Station: (1) Corn silage 40 lbs., 10 
lbs. prairie bay or millet, 4% lbs. bran, 3 lbs. cottonseed 
meal. 

(2) 40 lbs. corn silage, 10 lbs. corn fodder, 4 lbs. 
bran, 2 lbs. Chicago gluten meal, 2 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(3) 40 lbs. corn silage, 5 lbs. sorghum hay, 3 lbs. 
corn, iy2 lbs. bran, 3 lbs. gluten mieal, l^^ lbs. cottonseed 
meal. 

(4) 30 lbs. corn silage, 10 lbs. millet, 4 lbs. corn, 1 lb, 
gluten meal, 3 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(5) 30 lbs. corn silage, 15 lbs. fodder corn, 214 lbs. 
bran, 3 lbs. gluten meal, 1% lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(61) 30 lbs. corn silage, 15 lbs. fodder corn, 214 lbs. 
bran, 3 lbs. gluten meal, l^/^ lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(61/^) 30 lbs. corn silage, 10 lbs. oat straw, 2 lbs. oats, 
4 lbs. bran, 2 lbs. gluten meal, 2 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(7) 20 lbs. corn silage, 20 lbs. alfalfa, 3 lbs. corn. 

(8) 15 lbs. corn silage, 20 lbs. alfalfa, 5 lbs. kafir corn. 

(9) 20 lbs. corn silage, 15 lbs. alfalfa, 4 lbs. corn, 
3 lbs. bran. 

(10) 40 lbs. corn silage, 5 lbs. alfalfa, 3 lbs. corn, 
8 lbs. oats, 2 lbs. O. P. linseed meal, 1 lb. cottonseed meal. 

Tennessee Experiment Station: 30 lbs. silage, 10 lbs. 
clover or cow pea hay, 5 lbs. wheat bran, 3 lbs. of corn, 
2 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

North Carolina Experiment Station: (1) 40 lbs. corn 
silage, 10 lbs. cottonseed hulls, 5 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(2) 50 lbs. corn silage, 5 lbs. orchard grass hay, 
iY2 lbs. cottonseed meal. 

(3) 30 lbs. corn silage, 10 lbs. alfalfa, 6 lbs. wheat 
bran, 5 lbs. cottonseed hulls. 

(4) 40 lbs. corn silage, 15 lbs. cow pea vine hay. 

(5) 40 lbs. corn silage, 6 lbs. wheat bran, 6 lbs. field 
peas ground. 

(6) 40 lbs. corn silage, 4 lbs. cut corn fodder, 3 lbs. 
ground com, 4 lbs. bran, 1 lb. cottonseed meal (ration 
fed at Biltmore Estate to dairy cows). Silage is fed to 
steers and cows, and corn, peas, teosinte, cow peas, millet 
and crimson clover are used as silage crops. These crops 
are put into the silo in alternate layers. "Will never stop 
using the silo and silage." 

South Carolina: 30 lbs. corn silage, 6 lbs. bran, 3 lbs. 
cottonseed meal, 12 lbs. cottonseed hulls. 

Georgia Experiment Station: 40 lbs. corn silage, 15 lbs. 
cow pea hay, 5 lbs. bran. 



230 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



Ontario Agr. College: 45 lbs. corn silage, 6 lbs. clover 
hay, 8 lbs. bran, 2 lbs. barley-. 

Nappan Experiment Station (Can-ada) : 30 lbs. corn 
silage, 20 lbs. hay, 8 lbs. bran and meal. 

The criticism may properly be made with a large 
number of the rations given in the preceding, that it is 
only in case of low prices of grain or concentrated feeds 
in general, and with good dairy cows, that it is possible 
to feed such large quantities of grain profitably as those 
often given. In the central and northwestern states it 
will not pay to feed grain heavily with corn at fifty cents 
a bushel and oats at thirty cents a bushel or more. In 
times of high prices of feeds, it is only in exceptional 
cases that more than six or eight pounds of concentrated 
feeds can be fed with economj^ per head daily. Some 
few cows can give proper returns for more than this 

AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF SILAGE CROPS OF DIFFERENT 
KINDS, IN PER CENT. 



Water. 



Corn Silage — 
Mature corn . . . 
Immature corn 
Ears removed . 

Clover silage 

Soja bean silage ... 
Cow-pea vine silage 
Field-pea vine silage 
Corn cannery refuse 

husks 

Corn cannery refuse 

cobs 

Pea cannery refuse 
Sorghum silage . . 
Corn-soja bean silage 
Millet-soja bean silage 

Rye silage 

Apple pomace silage 
Cow-pea and soja 

bean mixed 

Corn kernels 

Mixed grasses 

(rowen) 

Brewers' grain silage 



73.7 
79.1 
80.7 
72.0 
74.2 
79.3 
50.0 



74.1 
76.8 
76.1 
76.0 
79.0 
80.8 
85.0 

69.8 
41.3 

18.4 
69.8 



l.,6 
1.4 
1.8 
2.6 
2.8 
2.9 
3.6 



.5 
1.3 
1.1 
2.4 
2.8 
1.6 

.a 



Crude 
Protein 



Fiber. 



1.4 

1.5 

2.8 
.8 
2.5 
2.8 
2.4 
1.2 

3.8 

6.0 

10.1 
6.6 



13.0 

5.2 

7.9 
6.5 
6.4 

7.2 
7.2 
5.8 
3.3 

9.5 
1.5 

22.8 

4.7 



Nitro- 


gen- 


free 


Extract 


15.1 


11.0 


9.5 


11.6 


6.9 


7.6 


26.0 


7.9 


14.3 


11.3 


15.3 


11.1 


7.2 


9:2 


8.8 


11.1 


46.6 


36.0 


15.6 



Ether 
Extract 



.6 
1.2 
2.2 
1.5 
1.6 

1.1 

1.7 

1.3 
.3 
.8 

1.0 
.3 

1.1 

1.3 
3.6 

5.7 
2.1 



ANALYSES OF FEEDING STUFFS. 



231 



quantity of grain even when this is high, but more cows 
will not do so. 

The following rule for feeding good dairy cows is a 
safe one to he guided by: Feed as much roughage (succu- 
lent feeds like silage or roots, and hay) as the cows will 
eat up clean, and in addition, 1 pound of grain feed (concen- 
trates) a day per head for every pound of butter fat they 
produce in a week (or one-third to one-fourth as many 
pounds as they give milk daily). 

The farmer should aim to grow protein foods like 
clover, alfalfa, peas, etc., to as large extent as practicable, 
and thus reduce his feed bills. 

The table on preceding page gives actual chemical an- 
alyses of the products mentioned and includes the entire 
contents of the various feeds. The following table, show- 
ing the average amount of digestible nutrients in the more 
common American fodders, grains and by-products, is the 
table" that should be used in formulating rations. The 
table gives the number of pounds of digestible nutrients 
contained in 100 lbs. of the feeds, and these figures can, 
therefore, be used in figuring out the amount of digestible 
nutrients in any given amount of a food material; it is 
by such methods that the tables given on pages 237 to 
24l are obtained. 

ANALYSIS OF FEEDING STUFFS. 

TABLE SHOWING AVERAGE AMOUNTS OF DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN THE 
MORE COMMON AMERICAN FODDERS, GRAINS AND BY-PRODUCTS. 

(Compiled by the Editors of Hoard's Dairyman, Fort Atkinson, Wis.) 



NAME OF FEED. 



GREEN PODDDERS. 

Pasture Grasses, mixed. 

Fodder Corn 

Sorghum 

Red Clover 

Alfalfa 

Cow Pea 

Soja Bean 

Oat Fodder 

Rye Fodder 

Rape 

Peas and Oats 

Beet Pulp. 



Lbs. 

20.0 

20, 

20, 

29, 

28, 

16, 

24, 

37.8 

23.4 

14.0 

16.0 

10.2 



DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN 
100 POUNDS. 



Protein 



Lbs. 
2.5 
1.0 
0.6 
2.9 
3.9 
1.8 
3.2 
2.6 
2.1 
1.5 
1.8 
0.6 



Carbo- 
liydrates. 



Lbs. 

10.2 

11.6 

12.2 

14.8 

12.7 

8.7 

11.0 

18.9 

14.1 

8.1 

7.1 

7.3 



Ether 
Extract, 
(Grade 

Pat.) 



Lbs. 
0.5 
0.4 
0.4 
0.7 
0.5 
0.2 
0.5 
1.0 
0.4 
0.2 
0.2 



232 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



NAME OF FEED 



SILAGE. 

Corn , 

Corn, Wisconsin analyses 

Sorghum .- 

Red Clover 

Alfalfa 

Cow Pea 

Soja Bean 

DEY FODDERS AISTD HAY, 

Corn Fodder 

Corn Fodder, Wis. anal.. 

Corn Stover 

Sorghum Fodder 

Red Clover 

Alfalfa 

Barley , 

Blue Grass 

Cow Pea 

Crab Grass 

Johnson Grass 

Marsh Grass , 

Millet 

Oat Hay 

Oat and Pea Hay , 

Orchard Grass 

Prairie Grass 

Red Top 

Timothy 

Timothy and Clover . . . . 

Vetch 

White Daisy 

STRAW. 

Barley 

Oat 

Rye 

Wheat 



< 2 



Lbs. 
20.9 



26.4 
23.9 

28.0 
27.5 
20.7 
25.8 



57.8 

71.0 

59.5 

59.7 

84.7 

91.6 

85.2 

78.8 

89 

82 

87 

88 

92 

91 

85 

90 

87 

91 



85.3 
88.7 
85.0 



85.8 
90.8 
92.9 
90.4 



DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN 
100 POUNDS. 



Lbs. 

0.9 
1.3 

0.6 



2, 
3, 
1, 
1 
6, 

11 
6, 
4, 

10 
5, 
2, 
2, 
4. 
4, 
9, 
4, 
3, 



2.8 

4.8 

12.9 



0.7 
1.2 
0.6 
0.4 



Carbo- 
hydrates 



Lbs. 



34 

40 

32 

37 

35 

39 

46 

37 

38 

39.7 

47.8 

29.9 

51.7 

46.4 

36.8 

42.3 

41.8 

46.9 

43.4 

39.6 

47.5 

40.7 



41.2 
38.6 
40.6 
36.3 



Ether 

Extract 

(Crude Fat) 



Lbs. 

0.7 
0.7 
0.2 
1.0 
1.9 
0.9 
1.3 



1.2 
1.2 
0.7 
0.4 
1.7 



1.2 
1.4 



0.6 
0.8 
0.4 
0.4 



ANALYSES OF FEEDING STUFFS. 



233 



NAME OF FEED. 



EOOTS AND TUBERS. 

Artichokes 

Beets, common 

Beets, sugar 

Carrots 

Mangels 

Parsnips 

Potatoes 

Rutabagas 

Turnips , 

Sweet Potatoes 

GRAIN AND BY-PRODUCTS 

Barley 

Brewers' Grains, dry 

Brewers' Grains, wet .... 

Malt Sprouts 

Buckwheat 

Buckwheat Bran 

Buckwheat Middlings . . . . 
Corn 

Corn and Cob Meal 

• Corn Cob 

Corn Bran 

Atla« Gluten Meal 

Gluten Meal 

Germ Oil Meal 

Gluten Feed 

Hominy Chop 

Starch Feed, wet 

Cotton Seed 

Cotton Seed Meal 

Cotton Seed Hulls 

Cocoanut Meal 

Cow Peas 

Flax Seed 

Oil Meal, old process ...... 

Oil meal, new process . . . 



"A" 


DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS 




IN 100 POUNDS. . 


P 

Q 


n 
p 


J 


Etlier 
Extract 
(Crude 
Fat.) 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs.- 


20.0 


2.0 


16.8 


0.2 


13.0 


1.2 


8.8 


0.1 


13.5 


1.1 


10.2 


0.1 


11.4 


0.8 


7.8 


0.2 


9.1 


1.1 


5.4 


0.1 


11.7 


1.6 


11.2 


0.2 


21.1 


0.9 


16.3 


0.1 


11.4 


1.0 


8.1 


0.2 


9.5 


1.0 


7.2 


0.2 


29.0 


0.9 


22.2 


0.3 


89.1 


8.7 


65.6 


1.6 


91.8 


15.7 


36.3 


5.1 


24.3 


3.9 


9.3 


1.4 


89.8 


18.6 


37.1 


1.7 


87.4 


7.7 


49.2 


1.8 


89.5 


7.4 


30.4 


1.9 


87.3 


22.0 


33.4 


5.4 


89.1 


7.9 


66.7 


4.3 


89.0 


6.4 


63.0 


3.5 


89.3 


0.4 


52.5 


0.3 


90.9 


7.4 


59.8 


4.6 


92.0 


24.6 


38.8 


11.5 


88.0 


32 . 1 


41.2 


2.5 


90.0 


20.2 


44 5 


8.8 


90.0 


23.3 


50.7 


2.7 


88.9 


7.5 


55.2 


6.8 


34.6 


5.5 


21.7 


2.3 


89.7 


12.5 


30.0 


17.3 


91.8 


37.2 


16.9 


8.4 


88.9 


0.3 


33.1 


1.7 


89.7 


15.6 


38.3 


10.5 


85.2 


18.3 


54.2 


1.1 


90.8 


20.6 


17.1 


29.0 


90.8 


29.3 


32.7 


7.0 


89.9 


28.2 


40.1 


2.8 



234 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



NAME OF FEED. 



GRAIN AND BY-PRODUCTS. 

Cleveland Oil Meal 

Kafir Corn 

Millet 

Oats 

Oat Feed or Shorts 

Oat Dust 

Peas 

Quaker Dairy Feed 

Rye 

Rye Bran 

Wheat 

Wheat Bran 

Wheat Middlings 

Wheat Shorts 



a 



l.bs. 
89.6 
84.8 
86.0 
89.0 
92.3 



DIGEST 
IN 



IBLE NUTRIENTS 
100 POUNDS. 



Lbs. 

32.1 

7.8 
8.9 



12.5 

8.9 
16.8 
9.4 
9.9 
11.5 
10.2 
12.6 
12.8 
12.2 



Lbs. 
25.1 
57.1 
45.0 
47.3 
46.9 



38. 
51, 
50. 
67, 
50, 
69, 
38, 
53. 
50 



Ho 



H 



Lbs. 
2.6 
2.7 
3.2 
4.2 
2.8 
5.1 
0.7 
3.0 
1.1 
2.0 
1.7 
3.0 
3.4 
3.8 



AVERAGE WEIGHT OF CONCENTRATED FEEDS. 



Kind of Feed. 



One Pound Equals 




Barley Meal 

Beet Pulp, dried 

Brewers' Grains, dried . . . . 

Corn and Cob Meal 

Corn Bran 

Corn Meal 

Corn, whole 

Cotton Seed Meal 

Distillers' Grains, dried . . . 

Germ Oil Meal 

Gluten Feed 

Gluten Meal 

Hominy Feed 

H-0 Dairy Feed 

Linseed Meal, old process. 

Malt Sprouts 

Oat Feed 

Oats, ground 

Oats, whole 

Quaker Dairy Feed 

Victor Corn and Oat Feed. 

Wheat Bran 

Wheat Middlings, standard 
Wheat Middlings, flour . . . 
"V^Tieat, whole 



SOILING CROPS. 



235 



SOILING CROPS ADAPTED TO NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND 
STATES. ( Lindsey. ) 

(For 10 cows' entire soiling.) 



Kind. 


Seeds per Acre. 


Time of 
Seeding 


Area. 


Time of Cutting-. 


Rye 


2 bu 

2 bu 


Sept. 10-15 
10-15 


% acre 


May 
June 


20-May SO 


Wheat 


1-June 15 


Red clover . . . 


20 lbs 


Jul. 15-Au.l 


V2 " 


June 


15- June 25 


Grass and 

clover' 


% bu. red top 
1 pk. timothy 
10 lbs. red clo. 


1 Sept. 


% " 


June 


15- June 30 


Vetch and 

oats ' 


3 bu. oats. . . 
50 lbs. vetch. 


j April 20 


1/2 " 


June 


25-July 10 


50 " 


30 


V2 " 


July 


10-July 20 


Peas and 

oats ' 


1 y2 bu. Can'd* 
IV2 bu. oats. 
iy2 " " • 


j April 20 
" 30 


V2 " 
V2 " 


June 
July 


25-July 10 
10-July 20 


Barnyard ( 
millet t 


1 peck 


May 10 


^/3 '.'. 


July 


25-Aug. 10 


1 " 


" 25 


Vs " 


Aug. 


10- Aug. 20 


Soja bean (me- 












dium green) 


18 quarts... 


" 20 


^3 ;; 


Aug. 


25-Sept. 15 


Corn 


18 " . . . 


" 20 


Vs " 


Aug. 


25-Sept. 10 


18 " ... 


" 30 


Vs " 


Sept. 


10-Sept. 20 


Hungarian . . 


1 bu 


July 15 


V2 " 


Sept. 


20-Sept. 30 


Barley and 
peas 


1% bu. peas. 
IVa bu. barl'y 


} Aug. 5 


1 " 


Oct. 


1-Oct. 20 



TIME OP PLANTING AND FEEDING SOILING CROPS. 
(Phelps.) 



Kind of Fodder. 



Rye fodder . . 
Wheat fodder 

Clover 

Grass (from 
lands) . . . . 






6. \ Oats and peas, 



7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 

13. 



Hungarian 

Clover rowen (from 3) 
Soja beans (from 3). 

Cow peas 

Rowen grass (from 

grass lands) 

Barley and peas 



Amount 

of Seed 

per Acre. 



21/2 to 3 bu. 
2y2 to 3 bu. 
20 lbs. 



2 bu. each, 

1% bu. 



1 bushel 
1 



2 bu. each. 



Approxi- 
mate Time 
of Seeding 



Sept. 1 
Sept. 5-10 
July 20-30 



April 10 
" 20 
" 30 
June 1 



May 25 
June 5-10 



Aug. 5-10 



Appi-oxhnate 
Time of Feeding 



May 10-20 
May 20- June 6 
June 5-15 

June 15-25 
June 25-July 10 
July 10-20 
July 20 -Aug. 1 
Aug. 1-10 
Aug. 10-20 
Aug. 20-Sept. 5 
Sept. 5-20 

Sept. 20-30 
Oct. 1-30 



The dates given in the table apply to Central Connecticut and 
regions under approximately similar conditions. 



236 



A FEEDER'S GUIDE. 



COST OF A POUNTD OF DIGESTIBLE DRY MATTER IN 
DIFFERENT FEEDING STUFFS. 



Feeds. 


Cost per 
100 lbs. 


Total 
Dig-estible 
Niitrients. 


Co per 
Pound for 
Dig-estible 
Nutrients. 


Corn meal 


$0.80 

.78 . 

.90 

.85 

.85 

1.00 

.85 

.90 

> .85 

.95 

.90 

1.20 

1.30 

1.30 

1.30 

1.2(> 

1.20 

1.20 

1.00 

1.00 


Lbs. 

79.5 

71.3 

67.0 

72.3 

60.9 

63.7 

70.4 

88.8 

57.9 

70.6 

64.8 

80.3 . 

77.1 

74.5 

75.5 

78.9 

81.1 

86.7 

80.1 

82.3 


Cents. 
1.01 


Cob meal 


1.09 


Oats 


1.34 


Provender 


1.18 


Quaker dairy feed , 

H-0 dairy feed 


1.40 

1 57 


Corn and oat feed 


1 21 


Hominy chop 


1.01 


Wtieat bran 


1 47 


Wheat middlings 


1 35 


Mixed (wheat) feed 

Cottonseed meal 

-Linseed meal, old process . . 
Linseed meal, new process.. 
Flax meal 


1.39 
1.50 
1.69 
1.74 

1.72 


Chicago gluten meal 

Cream gluten meal 

King gluten meal 


1.52 
1.48 
1 38 


Buffalo gluten feed 


1 25 


Diamond gluten feed 


1.22 



READY REFERENCE TABLE OP CONTENTS. 237 

IN VARYING WEIGHTS OF FEED, IN POUNDS. 

Note.— These tables save calculations of percentag-es, since the weights 
and contents being- g-iven in pounds, it is only necessary to find the kind and 
desired amount of a certain feed, and the table gives the exact food con- 
tents in pounds, as in the first table, 15 lbs. of Green Oats Fodder contains 
5.7 lbs. of dry matter, 0.35 lbs. of protein and 3.1 lbs. of carbohydrates. 



POUNDS OF 
FODDER. 



Grasses. 



21/2 

5 



10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 



Green Fodders. 



21/2 

5 



10 
15 

20 
25 
30 
35 
40 



Green Ftidders, 



5 



10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 



Green Fodders. 



21/2 

5 



10 
15 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 



fl 



>3 0) 

OaT 
Oh 



Pasture Grass, 1:4.8 



6 

.0 
.0 



.0 

5.0 

6.0 

7.0 
8.0 



0.06 
0.12 
0.23 
0.35 
0.46 
0.58 
0.69 
0.82 
0.92 



0.3 
0.6 
1.1 
1.7 
2.2 
2.8 
3.3 
3.9 
4.4 



Green FodderCorn1:1t.2 



0.5 
1.0 
1 
1 
1 
2 
9. 



0.03 


0.06 


0.11 


0.17 


0.22 


0.28 


0.33 


0.39 


0.44 



0.3 
0.6 
1.3 
1.9 
2.6 
3.2 
3.9 
4.5 

^ 9. 



Oats and Peas, 1:4.2 



0.5 
1.1 
2.1 
3.2 
4.3 
5.3 
6.4 
7.5 
8.5 



0.07 
0.14 
0.27 
0.41 
0.54 
0.68 
0.81 
0.95 
1.08 



0.3 
0.5 
1.1 
1.7 
2.3 
2.9 
3.4 
4.0 
4.6 



Corn Silage, 1:14.3 



0.03 
0.06 
0.12 
0.18 
0.24 
0.30 
0.36 
0.42 
0.48 



0.4 
0.8 
1.8 
2.7 
3.6 
4.5 
5.3 
6.2 
7.1 



>5 



Is 

si 



Timothy Grass, 1:14.3 



1.0 


0.04 


1.9 


0.08 


3.8 


0.15 


5.8 


0.23 


7.7 


0.30 


9.6 


0.38 


11.5 


0.45 


13.4 


0.53 


15.4 


0.60 



0.5 
1.1 
2.1 
3.2 
4.3 
5.4 
6.4 
7.5 
14.0 



Green Oat Fodder, 1:8.7 



9 


0.06 


9 


0.12 


8 


0.24 


7 


0.36 


6 


0.48 


5 


0.60 


3 


0.72 


2 


0.84 


1 


0.96 



0.5 
1.0 
2.1 
3.1 



Barley and Peas, 1:3.2 



0.5 
1.0 
2.1 
3.1 
4.1 
5.2 
6.2 
7.2 
8.2 



0.07 
0.14 
0.28 
0.42 
0.56 
0.70 
0.84 
0.96 
1.12 



0.2 
0.4 
0.9 
1.4 
1.8 
2.3 
2.7 
3.2 
3.6 



CornStoverSilage, 1:16.6 



0.5 
1.0 
1.9 
2.9 
3.9 
4.8 
5.8 
6.8 
7.7 



0.02 


0.03 


0.06 


0.09 


0.12 


0.15 


0.18 


0.21 


0.24 



0-.3 
0.5 
1.0 
1.5 
2.0 
2.5 
3.0 
3.5 
4.0 



>3 



% 



O 



Ky. Blue Grass, 1:9.2 



0.9 


0.05 


1.8 


0.10 


3.5 


0.20 


5.2 


0.30 


7.0 


0.40 


8.7 


0.50 


10.5 


0.60 


12.2 


0.70 


14.0 


0.80 



0.5 
0.9 
1.8 
2.7 
3.7 
4.7 
5.5 
6.4 
7.3 



Green Rye Fodder, 1:7.2 



0.6 


0.05 


1.2 


0.11 


2.3 


0.21 


3.5 


0.32 


4.7 


0.4a 


5.9 


0.52 


7.0 


0.63 


8.2 


0.74 


9.4 


0.84 






1 

2, 

3, 

3.8 

4.5 

5.3 

6.0 



Red Clover (green) 1:5.7 



0.7 


0.07 


1.5 


0.15 


2.9 


0.29 


4.4 


0.44 


5.9 


0.58 


7.3 


0.73 


8.8 


0.87 


10.2 


1.02 


11.7 


1.16 



0.4 
0.8 
1.6 
2.5 
3.3 
4.1 
4.9 
5.7 
6.6 



Clover Silage, 1:4.7 



0.7 


0.07 


1.4 


0.14 


2.8 


0.27 


4.2 


0.41 


5.6 


0.54 


7.0 


0.68 


8.4 


0.81 


9.8 


0.95 


11.2 


1.08 



0.3 
0.6 
1.3 
1.9 
2.6 
3.2 
3.9 
4.5 
5.1 



238 READY REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

VARYING WEIGHTS OF FEED IN POUNDS. — CONTINUED. 





>! 




1 c3 


>. 




, 6 


>> 




1 


POUNDS OF 
PODDEE. 


s 


S3 



3« 
U 







6« 

Is 


OS 

11 


a 


I:- 

■9 i 




s*^ 


PM 


S| 


§s 


pu 




^^ 


^ 




Roots 


Potatoes, 1:7.3 | 


Sugar Beets, 1:6.8 | 


Carrots, 1:9.6 


21/2 


0.5 


0.02 


0.4 


0.3 


0.04 


0.3 


0.3 


0.03 


0.2 


5 


1.1 


0.05 


0.8 


0.7 


0.08 


0.5 


0.5 


0.05 


0.5 


10 


2.1 


0.09 


1.6 


1.4 


0.16 


1.1 


1.1 


0.10 


1.0 


15 


3.2 


0.14 


2.3 


2.0 


0.24 


1.7 


1.6 


0.15 


1.4 


20 


4.2 


0.18 


3.1 


2.7 


0.32 


2.2 


2.3 


0.20 


1.9 


25 


5.3 


0.23 


3.9 


3.4 


0.40 


2.7 


2.9 


0.25 


2.4 


80 


6.3 


0.27 


4.7 


4.1 


0.48 


3.3 


3.4 


0.30 


2.9 


35 


7.4 


0.32 


5.4 


4.7 


0.56 


3.8 


4.0 


0.35 


3.4 


40 


8.4 


0.36 


6.2 


5.4 


0.64 


4.4 


4.6 


0.40 


3.8 


Roots 


Mangel Wurtzels, 1:4.9 


Rutabagas. 1:8.6 { 


Turnips, 1:7.7 


2V2 


0.2 


0.03 


0.1 


0.3 


(!^.03 


0.2 


0.2 


0.03 


0.2 


5 


0.4 


0.06 


0.3 


0.5 


0.05 


0.4 


0.5 


0.05 


0.4 


10 


0.9 


0.11 


0.5 


1.1 


. 10 


0.9 


1.0 


0.10 


0.8 


15 


1.4 


0.17 


0.8 


1.6 


0.15 


1.3 


1.4 


0.15 


1.2 


20 


1.8 


0.22 


1.1 


2.3 


0.20 


1.7 


1.9 


0.20 


1.5 ' 


25 


2.3 


0.28 


1.4 


2.9 


0.25 


2 ^ 


2.4 


0.25 


1.9 


30 


2.7 


0.33 


i.e 


3.4 


0.30 


2.6 


2.9 


0.30 


2.3 


35 


3.2 


0.39 


1.9 


4.0 


0.35 


3.0 


3.3 


0.35 


2.7 


40 


3.6 


0.44 


2.2 


4.6 


1.40 


3.4 


3.8 


0.40 


3.1 


Milk 


Skim Milk, 1:2.0 


Buttermilk, 1:1.7 1 


Whey, 1:8.7 


21/2 


0.2 


0.07 


0.1 


0.2 


0.10 


0.2 


0.2 


0.02 


0.1 


5 


0.5 


0.15 


0.3 


0.5 


0.19 


0.3 


0.3- 


0.03 


0.3 


10 


0.9 


0.29 


0.6 


1.0 


0.38 


0.6 


0.6 


0.06 


0.5 


15 


1.4 


0.44 


0.9 


1.5 


0.57 


1.0 


0.9 


0.09 


0.8 


20 


1.9 


0.58 


1.2 


2.0 


0.76 


1.3 


'1.2 


0.12 


1.0 


25 


2.4 


0.73 


1.6 


2.5 


0.95 


1.6 


1.5 


0.15 


1.3 


30 


2.8 


0.87 


1.8 


3.0 


1.14 


1.9 


1.9 


0.18 


1.6 


35 


3.2 


1.02 


2.1 


3.5 


1.33 


2 2 


2.2 


0.21 


1.8 


40 


3.7 


1.16 


2.4 


4.0 


1.52 


2.6 


2.5 


0.24 


2.1 


Hays 


Mixed Hay, 1:10.0 


Timottiy Hay, 1:16.5 


Ky.BlueGrassHay,1:10.6 


2V2 


2.1 


0.11 


-1.1 


22 


0.07 


1.2 


1.9 


0.09 


1.0 


5 


4.2 


0.22 


2.2 


.43 


0.15 


2.3 


3.7 


0.19 


2.0 


'^V2 


6.4 


0.33 


3.3 


.65 


0.21 


3.5 


5.6 


•0.28 


3.0 


10 


8.5 


0.44 


4.4 


.87 


0.28 


4.6 


7.4 


0.37 


3.9 


i2y2 


10.6 


0.55 


5.5 


1.09 


0.35 


5.8 


9.2 


0.46 


4.9 


15 


12.7 


0.66 


6.6 


1.30 


0.42 


6.9 


11.1 


0.56 


5.9 


17V2 


14.8 


0.77 


7.7 


1.52 


0.49 


8.1 


13.0 


0.65 


6.9 


20 


16.9 


0.88 


8.8 


1.74 


0.56 


9.2 


14.8 


0.74 


7.9 


25 


21.2 


1.10 


11.0 


2.17 


. 70 


11.6 


18.5 


0.93 


9.9 



READY REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS. 239 

VARYING WEIGHTS OF FEED IN POUNDS. — CONTINUED. 





>> 




1 «3 


>» 




1 6 


>> 






POUNDS OF 
, FODDER. 


Si 



g 


r- 
U 








2S 


p 


"2 '^ 




^^ 


Ph 




g^ 


Pm 


52 


^^ 


PM 


s'S 


Hays 


Oat Hay, 1:9.9 | 


Oat and Pea Hay, 1:4.1 | 


Hungarian. 1:10.0 


21/2 


2.3 


0.10 


1.0 


2.2 


0.28 


1.2 


2.1 


0.12 


1.2 


5 


4.6 


0.21 


2.0 


4.4 


0.56 


2.3 


4.2 


0.25 


2.4 


m 


6.8 


0.31 


3.0 


6.6 


0.84 


3.5 


6.3 


0.37 


3.5 


10 


9.1 


0.41 


4.0 


8.9 


1.1.2 


4.6 


8.4 


0.49 


4.9 


121/2 


11.4 


0.51 


5.1 


11.1 


1.40 


5.8 


10.4 


0.62 


6.2 


15 


13.7 


0.62 


6.1 


13.3 


1.68 


6.9 


12.5 


0.74 


7.4 


171/2 


16.0 


0.72 


7.1 


15 5 


1.96 


8.1 


14.6 


0.86 


8.6 


20 


18.2 


0.82 


8.1 


17.7 


2 24 


9.2 


16.7 


0.98 


9.8 


25 


22.8 


1.03 


10.2 


22.1 


2.80 


11.6 


20.8 


1.23 


12.3 


Hays, etc. 


Red Clover Hay, 1:5.9 


Alsike Clover Hay, 1:5.5| 


Oat straw, 1:38.3 


^^2 


2.1 


0.18 


1.0 


2.3 


0.21 


1.2 


2.3 


0.03 


1.2 


5 


4.2 


0.36 


2.1 


4.5 


0.42 


2.3 


4.6 


0.06 


2,3 


71/2 


6.4 


0.53 


3.2 


6.8 


0.63 


3.5 


6.8 


0.09 


3.5 


10 


8.5 


0.71 


4.2 


9.0 


0.84 


4.6 


9.1 


0.12 


4.6 


i2y2 


10.6 


0.89 


5.2 


11.3 


1.05 


5,8 


11.4 


0.15 


5.8 


15 ...;... 


12.7 


1.07 


6.3 


13.5 


1.26 


6.9 


13.9 


0.18 


6.9 


171/2 


14.8 


1.24 


7.3 


15.8 


1.47 


8.1 


16.0 


0.21 


8.1 


20 


16.9 


1.42 


8.3 


18.1 


1.68 


9.2 


18.2 


0.24 


9.2 


25 


21.2 


1.78 


10.5 


22.6 


2.10 


11.6 


22.7 


0.30 


11.5 


Dry Fodder 


Corn Fodder, 1:14.3 


Corn Stover, 1:23.6 


Wlieat Straw, 1:95.0 


21/2 


1.4 


0.06 


0.9 


1.5 


0.04 


0.8 


2.3 


0.01 


0.9 


5 


2.9 


0.13 


1.8 


3.0 


0.07 


1.7 


4.5 


0.02 


1.9 


71/2 


4.3 


0.19 


2.7 


4.5 


0.11 


2.5 


6.8 


0.03 


2.8 


10 


5.8 


0.25 


3.6 


6.0 


0.14 


3.3 


9.0 


0.04 


3.7 


121/4 


7.2 


0.32 


4.5 


7.5 


0.18 


4.1 


11.3 


0.05 


4 6 


15 


8.7 


0.38 


5.4 


9.0 


0.21 


5.0 


13.5 


0.06 


5.6 


171/2 


10.1 


0.44 


6.2 


10.5 


0.25 


5.8 


15.8 


0.07 


6.5 


20 


11.6 


0.50 


7.1 


12.0 


0.28 


6.6 


18.1 


0.08 


7.4 


25 


14.5 


0.63 


8.9 


15.0 


0.35 


8.3 


22.6 


0.10 


9.3 


Grains 


Corn Meal, 1:11.3 


Corn & Cob Meal, 1:13.9 


Oats, 1:6.2 


1/4 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.2 


0.01 


0.2 


0.2 


0.02 


0.1 


1/2 


0.4 


0.03 


0.4 


0.4 


0.02 


0.3 


0.4 


0.05 


0.3 


1 


0.9 


0.06 


0.7 


0.9 


0.05 


0.7 


0.9 


0.09 


0.6 


2 


1.7 


0.13 


1.4 


1.7 


0.10 


1.3 


1.8 


0.18 


1.1 


3 


2.6 


0.19 


2.1 


2.6 


0.14 


2.0 


2.7 


0.28 


1.7 


4 


3.4 


0.25 


2 9 


3.4 


0.19 


2.7 


3.6 


0.37 


2.3 


5 


4.3 


0.32 


3.6 


4.3 


0.24 


3.4 


4.5 


0.46 


2.8 


71/2 


6.4 


0.48 


5.4 


6.4 


0.36 


5.1 


6.7 


0.69 


4.3 


10 


8.5 


0.63 


7.1 


8.5 


0.48 


6.7 


8.9 


0.92 


5.7 



240 READY REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



VAEYING WEIGHTS OF FEED IN POUNDS — CONTINUED. 



POUNDS OF 
FODDER. 



By Products. 



1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

71/2 
10 



By Products 



1/2 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

71/2 
10 



By Products 



1/4 
1/2 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

71/2 
10 



By Products 

1/2 



1 

•2 
3 

4 , 

5 , 
71/2, 

10 



>, 




oi 


CD 











l« 


ft 






Barley, 1:8.9 



0.2 
0.4 
0.9 
1.8 
2.7 
3.6 
4.5 
6.7 
8.9 



0.02 
0.04 
0.09 
0.17 
0.26 
0.35 
0.44 
0.65 
0.87 



0.2 
0.3 
0.7 
1.4 
2.1 
2.8 
3.5 
5.2 
6.9 



Wlisat Middlings, 1:4.6 



0.2 
0.4 
0.9 
1.8 
2.6 
3.5 
4.4 
6.6 
8.8 



0.03 
0.06 
0.13 
0.25 
0.38 
0.50 
0.63 
0.94 
1.25 



0.1 
0.3 
0.6 
1.2 
1.7 
2.3 
2.9 
4.4 
5.8 



Rye, 1:7.8 



0.2 
0.4 
0.9 
1.8 
2.7 
3.5 
4.4 
6.6 
8.8 



0.02 
0.04 
0.09 
0.18 
0.27 
0.36 
0.46 
0.67 
0.89 



6.9 



Cottonseed Hulls, 
0.2 
0.4 

0.9 
1.8 
2.7 
3.6 
4.5 
6.7 
8.9 



0.1 
0.2 
0.4 
0.7 
1.1 
1.5 
1.8 
2.7 
3.7 



s 


.a 






^ 





§ 


ft 



Barley Screenings, 1:7.7 



0.2 
0.4 
0.9 
1.8 
2.6 
3.5 
4.4 



0.02 


0.04 


0.09 


0.17 


0.26 


0.34 


0.43 


0.65 


0.86 



0.2 
0.3 
0.7 
1.3 
2.0 
2.7 
3.3 
5.0 
6.6 



Wheat Screenings, 1:5.2 



0.2 


0.02 


0.4 


0.05 


0.9 


0.10 


1.8 


0.20 


2.7 


0.29 


3.5 


O..39 


4.4 


0.49 


6.6 


0.74 


8.8 


0.98 



0.1 
0.2 
0.5 
1.0 
1.5 
2.0 
2.5 
3.8 
5.1 



Rye Bran, 1:5.1 



0.2 


0.03 


0.4 


0.06 


0.9 


0.12 


1.8 


0.25 


2.7 


0.37 


3.5 


0.49 


4.4 


0.62 


6.6 


0.92 


8.8 


1.23 



0.2 
0.3 
0.6 
1.3 
1.9 
2.5 
3.1 
4.6 
6.3 



Linseed Meal 0. p., 1:1.5 



0.2 
0.5 
0.9 
1.8 
2.7 
3.6 
4.9 
6.8 
9.0 



0.08 
0.15 
0.31 
0.62 
0.92 
1.23 
1.54 
2.31 
3.08 



0.1 
0.2 
0.5 
1.0 
1.4 
1.8 
2.3 
3.4 
4.6 



^ 




Q-0. 


c 














k^ 


ft 






Wheat Bran, 1:3.8 



0.2 


03 


0.4 


0.06 


0.9 


0.12 


1.8 


0.24 


2.6 


0.36 


3.5 


0.48 


4.4 


0.60 


6.6 


0.90 


8.8 


1.20 



0.1 
0.2 



Red-dog Flour, 1:3.3 



0.2 


0.04 


0.5 


0.C9 


0.9 


0.18 


1.8 


0.36 


2.7 


0.53 


3.6 


0.71 


4.6 


0.89 


6.8 


1.34 


9.1 


1.78 



0.1 
0.3 
0.6 
1.2 
1.7 
2.3 
2.9 
4.4 
5.8 



Cottonseed Weal, 1:1.0 



0.2 


0.10 


0.5 


0.20 


0.9 


0.40 


1.8 


0.80 


2 9 


1.20 


3.7 


1.60 


4.6 


2.00 


6.9 


3.00 


9.2 


4.00 



0.1 

0.2 
0.4 
0.8 
1.2 
1.6 
2.0 
3.0 
4.0 



Linseed Meal n. p. ,1:1. 3 



0.08 
0.16 
0.32 
0.65 
0.97 
1.30 
1.62 
2.43 
3.24 



0.1 
0.2 
0.4 
0.8 
1.3 
1.7 
2.1 
3.2 
4.2 



READY REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS. 241 

I 

VARYING WEIGHTS OF FEED IN POUNDS— CONTINUED. 



POUNDS OF 
FODDER. 


hi 
si 


5 
9 


1 "^ 


-3 


"i 
9 






"i 







^^ 


PM 


o| 


g^ 


PM 




g^ 


^ 


'^2 


By Products 


Flax Meal, 1:1.4 


Gluten Meal (Chi.) 1:1.5 


Gluten Meal(Cr'm.)l:1.7 


1/4. 




0.2 


0.08 


0.1 


0.2 


0.08 


0.1 


0.2 


0.07 


0,1 


y2. 




0.4 


0.16 


0.2 


0.4 


0.16 


0.2 


0.4 


0.15 


0.2 


1 . 




0.9 


0.32 


0.4 


0.9 


0.32 


0.5 


0.9 


0.30 


0,5 


2 . 




1.9 


0.64 


0.9 


1.8 


0.64 


0.9 


1.8 


0.59 


1.0 


3 . 




2.7 


0.96 


1.3 


2.6 


0.96 


1.4 


2.7 


0.89 


1.5 


4 . 




3.6 


1.28 


1.7 


3.5 


1.28 


1.9 


3.6 


1.19 


2.1 


5 . 




4.5 


1.60 


2 2 


4.4 


1.60 


2.3 


4.5 


1.49 


2.6 


VVs. 




6.7 


2 40 


3.3 


^.^ 


2.40 


3.5 


6.7 


2.23 


3.9 


10 . 





8.9 


3.21 


4.3 


8.8 


3.21 


1 4.7 


9.0 


2.97 


5.1 


By Products- 


GlutenFd.(Buffalo)1:2.4 


Hominy Chop, 1:9.2 


Dried Brewers'sG'r,1:3.0 


V4.. 





0.2 


0.06 


0.1 


0.2 


0.02 


0.2 


0.2 


0.04 


0.1 


y%. 




0.4 


0.12 


0.3 


0.5 


0.04 


0.4 


0.5 


0.08 


0.3 


1 . 




0.9 


0.23 


0.6 


0.9 


0.09 


0.8 


0.9 


0.16 


0.5 


2 . 




1.8 


0.47 


1.1 


1.8 


0.17 


1.6 


1.8 


0.31 


0.9 


3 . 




2.7 


. 70 


1.7 


2.8 


0.26 


2.4 


2.8 


0.47 


1.4 


4 .. 




3.6 


0.93 


2.3 


3.7 


0.35 


3.2 


3.7 


0.63 


1.9 


5 . 




4.7 


1.17 


2.8 


4.6 


0.44 


4.0 


4.6 


0.79 


2.4 


7 Vs.. 




6.8 


1.74 


4.3 


^.^ 


0.65 


6.0 


6.9 


1.18 


3.5 


10 .. 




9.0 


2.33 


5.9 


9.2 


0.87 


8.0 


9.2 


1.57 


4.7 


By Products 


Atlas Gluten Meal, 1:2.6| 


Malt Sprouts, 1:2.2 | 


Pea Meal, 1:3.2 


y^ 


0.2 


0.06 


0.2 


0.2 


0.05 


0.1 


0.2 0.04 


0.1 


V2.. 




0.5 
9 


0.12 

25 


0.3 
0.6 


0.4 
9 


0.09 
19 


0.2 
4 


0.4 0.08 
0.9 0.17 


3 


1 


0.5 


2 


1.8 


0.49 


1.3 


1.8 


0.37 


0.8 


1.8 jo. 33 


1.1 


3 


2,8 


0.74 


1.9 


2 7 


56 


1.2 


2.7 0.50 


1 6 


4 


3 7 


Q8 


2 6 


3 6 


74 


1 6 


3.6 iO.67 
4 5 86 


2 1 


5 


4 6 


1 23 


3 2 


4 5 


93 


2 


9 7 


71/2 


6.9 


1.85 


4.9 


6.7 


1.40 


3.0 


6.7 L26 


4.0 


10 


9 2 


2.46 


6.5 


9.0 


1.86 


4.0 


9,0 1.68 


5.3 



16 



242 DEFINITION OF TERMS USED. 



GLOSSARY. ' 

Ad libitum. At pleasure; in case of feeding farm ani- 
mals, all they will eat of a particular feeding stuff. 

Albuminoids. A group of substances of the highest 
importance in feeding farm animals, as they furnish the 
material from which flesh, blood, skin, wool, casein of 
milk, and other animal products are manufactured. An- 
other name for albuminoids is flesh-forming substances 
or protein. 

Ash. The portion of a feeding stuff which remains 
when it is burned, the incombustible part of feeds. -The 
ash of feeding stuffs goes to make the skeleton of young 
animals, and in the case of milch cows a portion thereof 
goes into the milk as milk ash. 

The Babcock test. This test, by which the per cent, 
of butter fat in milk and other dairy products can be 
accurately and quickly determined, was inveoited in 1890 
by Dr. S. M. Babcock of Wisconsin Agricultural College. 

Bacteria. Microscopic vegetable organisms usually in 
the form of a jointed rod-like filament, and found in putre- 
fying organic infusions. They are widely diffused in 
nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity. Certain 
species are active agents in fermentation, while others 
appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases. 

Balanced ration. A combination of feeding stuffs, 
containing the various nutrients in such proportions and 
amounts as will nourish the animals for twenty-four hours, 
with the least waste of nutrients. 

By-products. A secondary product of an industry; 
cottonseed meal is a by-product of the cotton oil industry; 
skim milk and butter milk are by-products of butter 
making. 

Carbohydrates (or carbhydrates). A group of nutrients 
rich in carbon and containing oxygen and hydrogen in the 
proportion in which they form water. The most important 
carbohydrates found in feeding stuffs are starch, sugar, 
gums and crude fiber (cellulose.) 

Carbon. A chemical element, which, with the elements 
of water, makes up the larger part of the dry matter of 
plants and animals. 

Carbonic acid. A poisonous gas arising from the com- 
bustion of coal or wood. It is formed in all kinds of 
fermentations and therefore occurs in deep silos in the 
siloing of fodders. 

Casein. The protein substance of milk which is coagu- 
lated by rennet or acids. 

Cellulose. See Crude fiber. 



DEFINITION OF TERMS USED. 243 

Concentrates. The more nutritious portion of the 
rations of farm animals embracing such feeding stuffs as 
wheat bran, corn, oil meal, etc.; synonymous with grain 
feeds, or concentrated feeds. 

Corn fodder or fodder corn. Stalks of corn which are 
grown for forage and from which the ears or nubbins have 
not been removed. 

Corn stover or stalks. The dry stalks of corn from 
which the ears have been removed. 

Crude fiber. The frame work forming the walls of 
cells of plants. It is composed of cellulose and lignin, 
Vhe latter being the woody portion of plants and wholly 
indigestible. 

Digestible matter. The portion of feeding stuffs which 
is digested by animals, i. e., brought in solution or semi- 
solution by the digestive fluids, so that it may serve as 
nourishment for the animal and furnish material for the 
production of meat, milk, wool, eggs, etc. 

Dry matter. The portion of a feeding stuff remaining 
after the water contained therein has been removed. 

Ensilage. An obsolete word for silage. Used as a 
verb, likewise obsolete, for to silo; to ensile also some- 
times incorrectly used for the practice of placing green 
fodders into a silo. 

Enzymes. An unorganized or chemical compound of 
vegetable or animal origin, that causes fermentation, as, 
pepsin or rennet. 

Ether extract. The portion of a feeding stuff dissolved 
by ether; mainly fat or oil in case of concentrated feed- 
ing stuffs; in coarse fodders, fat, mixed with a number 
of substances of uncertain feeding value, like wax, chloro- 
phyll (the green coloring matter of plants), etc. 

Fat. See ether extract. 

Feed unit. A quantity of different feeding stuffs that 
has been found to produce similar results in feeding farm 
animals as one pound of grain (corn, barley, wheat or 
rye). For list of feed units, see page 221. 

Feeding standard. 'A numerical expression of the 
Amount of various digestible substances in a combina- 
tion of feeding stuffs best adapted to give good results as 
regards production of animal products, like beef, pork, 
milk, etc. 

Glucose or fruit sugar. The former sugar found in 
fruits, honey, etc., also in the alimentary canal. 

Indian corn. Zea mays, the great American cereal and 
fodder-producing plant. 



244 DEFINITION OP TERMS USED. 

Hydrogen. A cliemical element, a gas. Combined with 
oxygen it forms v/ater, with oxygen and carbon it forms 
carbohydrates and fat; with oxygen, carbon and nitrogen 
(with small amounts of sulphur and phosphorus) it forms 
the complex organic nitrogenous substances known as 
protein or albuminoid substances. 

Legumes. Plants bearing seeds in pods and indirectly 
capable of fixing the gaseous nitrogen of the air, so that 
it becomes of value to the farmer and will supply nitrog- 
enous food substances to farm animals. Examples, the 
different kinds of clover, alfalfa, peas, beans, vetches, etc. 
Of the highest importance agriculturally as soil renovators, 
and in supplying farm-grown protein foods. 

Maintenance ration. An allowance of feed sufficient to 
maintain a raising animal in body weight so that it will 
neither gain nor lose weight. 

Nitrogen. A chemical element, making up four-fifths 
of the air. The central elements of protein. See under 
hydrogen. 

Nitrogen-free extract. The portion of a feeding stuff 
remaining when water, fat, protein, fiber, and ash are de- 
ducted. It includes starch, sugar, pentosans, and other 
substances. It is so called because it does not contain 
any nitrogen. 

Nitrogenous substances. Substances containing nitro- 
gen (which see). 

Nutrient. A food constituent or group of food con- 
stituents capable of nourishing animals. 

Net nutrients. The portion of the digested part of the 
food that remains after the amounts required for mastica- 
tion, digestion and assimilation have been used up. It is 
this portion only that is of real value to animals and 
furnish material for building up of tissue or elaboration 
of animal products. 

Nutritive ratio. The proportion of digestible protein to 
the sum of digestible carbohydrates and fat in a ration, 
the per cent, of fat being multiplied by 214, and added to 
the per cent, of carbohydrates (fiber plus nitrogen-free 
extrgjct) . 

Organic matter. The portion of the dry matter which 
is destroyed on combustion (dry matter minus ash). 

Oxygen. A chemical element found in a free state in 
the air, of which it makes up about one-fifth, and in com- 
bination of hydrogen in water; oxygen is also a rarely- 
lacking component of organic substances. See carboFiy- 
drates and hydrogen. 

Protein. A general name for -complex organic com- 
pounds mainly made up from the elements carbon, hydro- 



DEFINITION OF TERMS USED. 245 

gen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Crude protein includes all 
organic nitrogen compounds, while true protein or albu- 
minoids (which see) only includes such nitrogenous sub- 
stances in feeding stuffs as are capable of forming muscle 
and other tissue in the animal body. 

Ration. The amount of feed that an animal eats during 
twenty-four hours. 

Roughage. The coarse portion of a ration, including 
such feeding stuffs as hay, silage, straw, corn fodder, 
roots, etc. Concentrated feeding stuffs are sometimes 
called grain-feeds or concentrates, in contradistinction to 
roughage. 

Silage. The succulent feed taken out of a silo. For- 
merly called ensilage. 

Silo. An airtight structure used for the preservation 
of green, coarse fodders in a succulent condition. As a 
verb, to place green fodders in a silo. 

Soiling. The system of feeding farm animals in a 
stable or enclosure, with fresh grass or green fodders, as 
rye, corn, oats, Hungarian grass, etc. 

Starch. One of the most common carbohydrates in 
feeding stuffs, insoluble in water, but readily digested and 
changed to sugar in the process of digestion. 

Succulent feeds. Feeding stuffs containing consider- 
able water, like green fodder, silage, roots and pasture. 

Summer silage. Silage intended to be fed out during 
the summer and early fall to help out short pastures. 

Summer silo. A silo used for the making of summer 
silage. 



CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion we desire to state that tlie object of 
this book is to place before the farmer, dairyman and 
stockman such information as will be valuable and prac- 
tical, in as concise and plain a manner as possible, and to 
make a plea in behalf of the silo as an improver of the 
financial condition of the farmer. That the silo is a prime 
factor in modern agriculture is no longer a matter of 
doubt. The silo is not the sum total in itself, but as an 
adjunct, and, in the case of dairying, a necessary adjunct 
to successful and profitable methods, its value is difficult 
*to overestimate. 

One of the greatest values of the silo is that as an 
innovation it becomes a stepping-stone to better methods 
in general; it stimulates its owner and spurs him on to 
see just how good and tar-reaching results he can obtain 
from his revised system of management. It invites a 
little honest effort, and coupled with this it never fails. 
It enables its owner not only to do what he has been 
unable to do before, but things he has done without its 
help the silo enables him to do at less cost than before. 
The solution of the problem of cost of manufacture is 
necessary to every successful producer, and as the propo- 
sition is constantly changing, the solutions of our fore- 
fathers, or even of a generation ago, no longer avail. The 
silo is not an enticing speculation by means of which 
something can be gotten out of nothing, but a sound busi- 
ness proposition, and has come to stay. The voices of 
thousands of our best farmers and dairymen sing its 
praises, because it has brought dollars into their pockets, 
and increased enjoyment to them in their occupations and 
their homes. 

Have you cows? Do you feed stock? Do you not 
need a silo? Is it not worthy of your best thought and 
consideration? You owe it to yourself to make the most 
you can out of the opportunities before you. DO IT NOW! 

246 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Acreage required for filling silos 57 

Advantages of the silo 11, 207 

Alfalfa silage 150 

All-metal silos 133 

Analyses of feeding stuffs 231 

Animal body, composition of the 214 

Ash 216 

Average composition of silage crops 230 

Bagasse, sorghum, for silage 154 

Beef cattle, silage for 196 

Beets, cost of, per acre 208 

Beet-pulp silage 154, 163 

Blower elevators 181 

Brick silos 108 

Cactus, spineless, for silage 168 

Cane, Japanese, for silage 169 

Capacity of round silos 56 

Carbonic acid poisoning in silos, danger from 184 

Cement block silos, how made, reinforcing, etc., of 133 

Cement lining, how to maintain 135 

Certified milk, silage in production of 192 

Chemical composition of silage 230 

Chute for a round wooden silo 106 

Circles, circumferences, and areas of 104 

Clover silage 146, 149 

Clover silage, cost of 147 

Clover, time of cutting for the silo 148 

Comparative losses in dry curing 15 

Composition of the animal body 214 

Composition of silage crops 230 

Composition of feeding stuffs 215 

Conclusion '. 246 

Concrete silos 124-130 

Concrete silos, forms used for making 130 

Conserving soil fertility with silage system 45 

Corn, cutting of, in the field 172 

Corn land, preparation of 139 

Corn, methods of planting 145 

Corn silage vs. fodder corn '. 210 

Corn silage vs. hay 208 

Corn silage vs. roots 207 

Corn, siloing of, "ears and all" 175 

Corn, see also Indian corn and Fodder corn. 

Corn, time of cutting for silo 142 

Corners of square silos, methods of excluding air from. . 110 

247 



248 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Cost of beets per acre 208 

Cost of corn silage 210 

Cost of a pound of digestible dry matter in different 

feeding stuffs 236 

Cost of silos 115-118 

Covering silage 185 

Cow-pea silage 151 

Crops for tlie silo 139 

Crude fiber 217 

Cutter and power, size of 178-181 

Clover, yield per acre 148 

Definition of terms used 180, 242 

Description of "Ohio" silage cutters. 252 

Digestibility of foods 218 

Doors for silos 71, 98 

Doorways, continuous, for block silos 137 

Doorways, continuous, for cement silos 133 

Drouth, silo in times of 27, 28 

Ears and all, siloing of corn 175 

Economy of storage 19' 

Elevators, pneumatic 181-183 

Ensilage, see Silage. 

Estimating of materials for silos 118 

Feeders' guide, etc 214 

Feeding standards 222-225 

Feeding stuffs, composition of 215 

Feeding of silage 190 

Field-curing of fodder corn, losses in 11-14 

Filling of silo 20, 172 

Floor plan of silos and model barn 86 

Food from thistles 21 

Food ingredients, increase in 144 

Freezing of silage 187 

Grain mixtures for dairy cows 226 

Guide, a feeders' 214 

Hauling corn from field, rack or sled for 174 

Hills or drills, planting of corn in 145 

History of the silo 8 

Horizontal girts, silos with -113 

Horses, silage for 196 

How to feed silage 190 

How to figure out rations 226 

Indian corn 139 

Indian corn, chemical changes in 143 

Indian corn, increase in food ingredients from tasseling 

to ripeness 144 

Indian corn, methods of planting 145 

Indian corn, see also Corn and Fodder Corn. 

Indian corn, soil adapted for 139 



INDEX. 249 

'page 

Indian corn, varieties of, to be planted for the silo 140 

Introduction 7 

Japanese cane for silage 169 

Lining for silos 73, 78 

Losses in dry curing 11-14 

Losses in siloing process 15 

Losses in siloing alfalfa 17 

Low wagons for hauling corn 174 

Lucerne, see Alfalfa. 

Materials for the silo " 90 

Metal bucket, chain elevators 180 

Metal-lath reinforced silos 131 

Milch cows, silage for 190 

Milch cows, silage rations for 194 

Milo for silage 159 

Mineral matter 214 

Modification of "Wisconsin" silo 79 

Miscellaneous silage crops 154-157 

Mules, silage for 199 

Night pasturing and summer silo 28 

Kafir for silage ., 159 

Nitrogen-free extract 217 

No danger of rain 19 

Number of staves required for stave silos 103 

Nutritive ratio 222 

Oats for silage 156 

Octagonal silos 112 

"Ohio" silage cutters, description of 180, 184 

Opinions of recognized leaders 212 

Painting the silo lining '. 78 

Plastered round wooden silos 80 

Planting corn, methods of 145 

Planting corn, thickness of 145 

Pneumatic elevators 181 

"Poultrymen's silos" 206 

Poultry, silage for 206 

Preparation of corn land 139 

Preservation of silos , 121-123 

Protein 216 

Rack, low-down, for hauling corn 174 

Rations, how to figure out 226 

Rations, silage, for dairy cows 194 

Ready reference tables 237-241 

Reinforced concrete silo construction 128 

Reinforcing for stone, brick or cement silos 109, 125 

Relative value of feeding stuffs 218 

Roof for the silo 76, 92, 100, 101 

Round silos ^° 



250 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Russian thistle for silage 165 

Sheep, silage for 200 

Shoemaker farm silos ^. . 174 

Shrinking of silage-fed cattle 42 

Silage, alfalfa 150 

Silage and soil fertility 45 

Silage cart 191 

Silage, chemical composition of 230 

Silage, clover v . 146 

Silage, cost of 147 

Silage crops 139 

Silage crops for arid and semi-arid regions 158 

Silage crops for the South 169 

Silage, feeding of 190 

Silage-fed beef cattle in the South 41 

Silage for beef cattle 31-44, 196 

Silage for horses 196 

Silage for milch cows 190, 194 

Silage for mules 199 

Silage for poultry .' 206 

Silage for sheep ^ 200 

Silage for swine ? 204 

Silage, freezing of 187 

Silage, good for stockers 42 

Silage, how to feed 190 

Silage, quantities of, required for different herds 57 

Silage, rations for milch cows 194 

Silage, sorghum, milo and kafir 159 

Silage spoils quickly in summer 30 

Silage truck 191 

Silage, use of, in beef production 31 

Silage, steaming of 188 

Silo, summer 24 

Silo, surplus crops stored in 28 

Silos, acreage to fill 57 

Silos, all brick , . 108 

Silos, brick lined 84 

Silos, cement block 134 

Silos, chute for 106 

Silos, concrete 124, 130 

Silos, cost of 79, 80, 84, 100, 115-117, 118 

Silos, foundation of 63, 64, 67, 68, 90, 112 

Silos, general requirements for . . . = 51 

Silos, how to build 51 

Silos in the barn 109 

Silos, location of 61 

Silos, octagonal 112 

Silos, on the form of 57 

Silos, roof for 106 



INDEX. 251 

PAGE 

Silos, round all-stone 106 

Silos, round wooden 56 

Silos, specifications for 63, 79, 84, 89, 111 

Silos, square, methods of excluding air from corners of 109 

Silos, stone 108 

Silos, the filling process 176 

Silos, the time of filling 172 

Silos, underground 110 

Silos, value in intensive farming 21 

Silos, ventilation of 74 

Silos with horizontal girts 113 

Size of cutter and power required 178 

Size of silo required ; 54 

Soiling crops, table of 235 

Soiling crops, time of planting and feeding 235 

Soil fertility maintained with silage 45 

Soja beans 153 

Sorghum silage 153, 158 

Southern and Northern varieties of corn, comparative 

yield of 141 

Specifications for a stave silo 90 

Stave silos 87-102 

Stave silos, calculation of staves required for 103 

Stave silos, roof of 92 

Stave silos, specifications for 90 

Steamed silage 188 

Steers, silage for 196 

Stockers, silage good for 42 

Stone silos 108 

Succu^ence 18 

Summer silo, advantages of ., 24 

Summary results 43 

Surplus crops stored in silo .' . . 29 

Swine, silage for 204 

Thickness of planting corn 145 

Time of filling the silo 20, 172 

Time of cutting corn for the silo 142 

Thistles for silage 185 

Truck for silage 191 

Use of silage in beef production 31 

Underground silos 110 

Value in intensive farming 21 

Varieties of corn to be planted for the silo 140 

Waste of roughness 41 

Water, use of, in filling silos 186 

Weight of concentrated feeds 3, 234 

Wisconsin Experiment Station silos, description of. .82, 85 
Yields of clover per acre 147 



**Ohio" Standard Feed and Ensilage Cutter 

Showing New Metal Bucket Carrier, Set for Right- 
Angle Delivery 




Fig. 784. No. 11 

No. 11 With two 11-in. knives, cuts %, 1, 1% and 2 inches, 
weight 440 lbs 

No. 11 With four 11-in. knives, cuts Y^, %, % and 1 inch, 
weight 440 lbs t 

Reversible carrier with angle or straight delivery ; 
also straight delivery carrier with reversible at- 
tachments, in 12-ft. lengths or more, can be sup- 
plied for these machines. 

Extra Gears, to cut 4 inches long, with two knives, 

can also be furnished. 
Machines are regularly equipped with four cutting 

knives, but when desired can be supplied with 

Shredder blades instead, at slight extra cost. 

Shredder blades are illustrated on page 262. 
For tull information, prices, etc., see The "Ohio" 

Silage Cutter Catalog. 

252 



Smallest Size Ensilage Cutter. 

The illustration on the opposite page is a good representation 
of the smallest size ensilage cutter and it shows also the new 
metal bucket carrier set for right angle delivery. This is the 
style carrier manufactured for this machine, and it can be set 
at right or left angle, or straightaway. 

Construction of the Carrier. 

The sides of the trough are tied together by wood strips and 
they are reinforced by iron rods. The hangers at top have 
.adjustment which is to set the tension in the chain. The chain 
is malleable links of standard make, and the attachment link 
is our special design and admits of the bucket being full width 
of the trough. The buckets are heavy sheet metal and are 
two inches high. The metal hood at bottom and a tail piece 
under the chain catch the cut ensilage and prevent it spilling 
out. It will carry the ensilage away as fast as it comes from 
the machine. 

Uses of Elevators. 

The first and principal use of elevators of this kind is to con- 
vey cut ensilage into the silo. Other uses are to deliver dry cut 
feed, of whatever kind, into bays, bins, lofts, and other places 
away from the machine, which saves the expense of a man. 

Has Capacity to Fill 50-ton Silos. 

The cutter is substantial, has large capacity, and is adapted 
to cut all kinds of dry feed as well as ensilage. It has capacity 
to fill 50-ton silos, and even larger ones, but as this work neces- 
sitates a force of men and teams, and taking into account the 
liability of frost, owners of silos usually give preference to a 
larger machine, so that the cutting may be done quickly and 
not lag. 

Shredding Fodder. 

By substituting shredder blades for the cutting knives, perfect 
shredding can be accomplished. A sample of the shredded ma- 
terial as it comes from the machine is shown in the illustration 
on page 262. A full description accompanies the illustration. 

■Capacity. 

Dry feed 2500 to 3000 pounds; ensilage, three to four tons per 
hour. 

Speed. 

450 to 600 revolutions per minute. 
Power. 

Two-horse. 
Pulley. 

Size sent 12x4-inch face; diameters, 6, 8, 10 and 15 inches 
■ean be furnished. 

Weight. 

No. 11 Cutter, 440 lbs. Reversible carrier, 12 feet long; 200 
,;pounds; extensions, per foot, 8 pounds. 

253 



'Ohio" Standard Feed and Ensilage Cutter 

Equipped with Self-Feed Table and Blower Elevator 




6 to 8 horse. 

* 



Capacity. 

Three to five tons of ensilage per hour. 
Power. 

Gasoline — plain table, 5 to 7 horse; self -feed, 
Speed. 

750 to 800 revolutions per minute. 
Pulley. 

Size sent, 8 in. diameter hy 6 in. face. Choice of other 
diameters when wanted. 

Fig. 803. No. 11 Self-feed Cutter, complete as illustrated, with- 
out truck; weight 925 pounds. 
Fig. 801, No. 11 Plain Table Cutter, complete, weight 725 pounds. 
Fig. 805. "Wood Truck for mounting either style cutter, weight 
440 pounds. 

Regular equipment includes two 11 -inch knives to cut 
%,.!, 1^ and 2 inches, also Blower and Hood, but no 
pipe. 

7 -inch galvanized pipe comes in 4, 6 and 10 -ft. lengths. 
Extra Gears, to cut 4 inches long, can be supplied. ' 
Machines are regularly equipped with cutting knives, 
but when desired can be supplied with Shredder 
Blades instead, at slight extra cost. Shredder 
Blades are illustrated and described on page 262. 
For full information and prices, see The "Ohio" Ensi- 
lage Cutter catalog. 

254 



DESCRIPTION 

^On"throp°po"site page is shown our No 11 Feed and Ensilage 
Cutter equipped with Blower Elevator and Self Feed Table and 
mounted on new wood truck. This addition has been made m 
Srder to meet a growing demand for a Blower Cutter to be oper- 
ated with light power— four to six horse. The machine is also 
made with plain table instead of. Self-Feed. 

^^^This' Cutter has long been our most popular size for general 
farnT use. It is adapted for cutting all kinds of dry feeds as well 
as ensilage, is strongly and durably built, has large capacity and 
requires but shght power to run. 
Direct Blast Blower. 

The fan wheel is heavy and carries three blades or paddles 
which are fastened absolutely rigid. The fan case is made of 
hea?y steel, and is closely riveted. The general construction 
is tdentical with that of the Blower so successfully used for the 
ifasteiSht years in connection with our "Monarch" Machines. 
^ auglr conveys the cut material into the Blower. 
Materials and Construction. ^ . .^, 4. 

The frame throughout is of the best hardwood, rigidly put 
together It is nicell striped and finished in the natural; the 
Sfn work is maroon Ind the whole machine is varnished, givmg 
a very attractive appearance. The knives are made of a high 
ca?bon steel, are carefully tempered and very durable. They 
aJe securell bolted to solid knife heads and are readily adjustable 
ThP knife shaft is of steel, 1% inches in diameter. The shaft 
bearinSs are'^onj and well' babbitted. The feeding rnechanism 
is exclllent As the upper feed roller rises to allow the feed to 
nass through the cog wheels remain in proper mesh without 
bfndine mSng an easy-running, durable device. The throwout 
or feed'l^tr is also very simple and easy of operation Its use 
enables the operato? to stop the feed instantly in case of accident 
or otherwise. 
The Pipe and P4pe Connections. , ^ , • ^ 

The pipe is 7 inches in diameter and is made of galvanized 
steel with standing seam on the outside, running lengthwise 
heineTerv rigid. It is made in 4, 6 and 10 -foot_ lengths with 
&h s!fj jofnts and a clamping band at each joint A swivel 
io St connection at the fan case allows the pipe to turn in any 
Erection Included with each machine is a hood or elbow which 
is to connect to upper end of pipe and convey the cut ensilage 
into the silo. 
Set Pipe Nearly Perpendicular for Ensilage. 

Dry Feed Can Be Blown in Any Direction. 

If lateral delivery is desired, suitable elbows can be fur- 
nished at slight cost. For green silage it is necessary to carry 
the pipe nearly perpendicular to height of opening and the 
ho?d at top will direct the silage into silo. Dry cut or shredded 
fodder ma? be blown in almost any direction by proper use of 
suitable elbows. 

^^''^The"new'^patented shredder blade shpuld be run at 600 to 
700 revolutions per minute while shredding, and is a notable 
advance in construction, enabling the operator to shred dry 
fodder or corn stover with the blower. There is a great saying 
fn p?wer aS as compared with the .tooth or saw-blade type 
of Shredder, besides saving the leaves m much better condition. 
See illustration of shredded material on page 2bZ. 

255 



**Ohio" Monarch Self-Feed Ensilage Cutter 

Showing New Metal Bucket Swivel Carrier 
Supplied also with straightaway carrier as listed. 




Fig. 794, Nos. 12, 15. 17, 19 and 22 



No. 12 Cuts % in., % in. 
No. 15 Cuts 14 in., % in. 
No. 17 Cuts 14 in., % in. 
No. 19 Cuts % in., % in. 
No. 22 Cuts Vi in., % in. 



% in. and 1 in. ; weight 1050 lbs. 
% in. and 1 in.; weight 1100 lbs. 
% in. and 1 in.; weight 1150 lbs. 
% in. and 1 in. ; weight 1200 lbs. 
% in. and 1 in. ; weight 1250 lbs. 



Straightaway or Swivel Carriers, in 12 foot lengths or 

more, can be supplied for these machines. 
Wood cover for Carrier, with hooks and eyes to fasten, 

can be furnished for all sizes. 
Extra Gears, to cut 4 inches long, with two knives, can 

also be supplied. 
Machines are regularly equipped with four cutting 

knives, but when desired can be supplied with 

Shredder Blades instead at slight extra cost. 

Shredder blades are illustrated on page 262. 
For full information, prices, etc., see The "Ohio" 

Silage Cutter Catalog. 

256 



The illustration opposite shows a No. 15 "Ohio" Mon- 
arch Self-feed Cutter with metal bucket swivel carrier 
attached. Carriers are furnished in any length that may 
be required. 

The machines are made in five sizes, with capacities 
and required powers as listed below. 

They are also manufactured with Blower Elevator, as 
shown in illustration on page 258. 

The "Ohio" machines are supreme in the Ensilage 
Cutter field, due to their wonderful capacity, great dur- 
ability and easy-running-and-feeding qualities. 

It is significant that the "Ohio" self-feed mechanism 
has been copied by all other manufacturers, which proves 
its value. The table is 8 feet long, and the largest bun- 
dles of corn can be thrown on it and without further 
attention are carried to the feed rolls and thence to the 
knives. 

No. 12 — Capacity, 8 to 10 tons per hour; power, 5 to 7 
horse gasoline. 

No. 15 — Capacity, 12 to 15 tons per hour; power, 6 to 8 
horse gasoline. 

No. 17 — Capacity, 15 to 20 tons per hour; power, 8 to 10 
horse gasoline. 

No. 19 — Capacity, 20 to 25 tons per hour, power, 10 to 12 
horse gasoline. 

No. 22 — Capacity, 25 to 30 tons per hour; power, 10 to 14 
horse gasoline. 

Speed— 450 to 600 revolutions per minute, pulley 12x6 
inches; choice of other diameters when wanted. 

257 
17 



**Ohio" Monarch Self-Feed Ensilage Cutter 

With Blower Elevator 

This is a very fine view of the machirie 
in its entirety. The hood over the cutting 
cylinder is closed down ready for action. 
The gearing is protected by guards, 
shown. 




Fig. 802. Nos. 13. 15. 17, 19 and 22 



No. 12 Cuts lA in 

No. 15 Cuts % in 

No. 17 Cuts Va. in. 

No. 19 Cuts % in. 

No. 22 Cuts lA in 



% in., % in. and 1 in.; weight 1450 lbs. 

% in., % in. and 1 in.; weight 1500 lbs. 

% in., % in. and 1 in.; weight 1550 lbs. 

% in., % in. and 1 in.; weight 1600 lbs. 

% in., % in. and 1 in.; weight 1650 lbs. 

Regular equipment for above machines includes 

blower, covered pulley and distributer, but no 

pipe. 

10-inch galvanized pipe comes in 4, 6, 8 and 10-foot 

lengths (weight 4 pounds to foot). 
Extra gears, to cut 4 inches long, with 2 knives, 

can also be furnished. 
Machines are regularly equipped with 4 cutting 
knives, but when desired, can be supplied with 
shredder blades instead, at slight extra cost. 
Shredder blades are illustrated on page 262. 
For full information, prices, etc., see the "Ohio" 
Silage Cutter Catalog. 

258 



The machine illustrated on opposite page is representa- 
tive of the "Ohio" Monarch Self-feed Blower Ensilage 
Cutter. As previously stated, these machines are made in 
five sizes, Nos. 12, 15, 17, 19 and 22; the blower is a part 
of the machine. 

The construction throughout is heavy and powerful. 
The frame is strong and rigidly put together; the steel 
knife shaft is heavy, running clear through the machine 
and carrying the drive pulley, knife heads and fly wheel— 
a patented and, therefore, exclusive feature with the 
"Ohio," making use of every ounce of power generated. 
The large fan permits full capacity at low speed, so that 
it never explodes or blows, up. Fan case and paddles 
are of heavy steel. The machine gives a clean shearing 
cut, capable of perfect adjustment. The "bull dog grip" 
feeding mechanism can be started, stopped or reversed 
by a single lever. 

The pipe is 10 inches in diameter, in convenient 
lengths, and made of galvanized steel. A swivel joint con- 
nection of the fan case allows it to turn in any direction. 
The new patented "Ohio" silage distributor /(see page 
261) is included with each machine. 
No. 12— Capacity, 8 to 10 tons per hour; 6 to 8 horse 

power. 
No. 15— Capacity, 12 to 15 tons per hour; 8 to 10 horse 

power. 
No. 17— Capacity, 15 to '20 tons per hour; 10 to 12 horse 

power. 
No. 19— Capacity, 20 to 25 tons per hour; 12 to 14 horse 

power. 
No. 22— Capacity, 25 to 30 tons per hour; 14 to 16 horse 

power. 
Speed— 650 to 700 revolutions per minute. Pulley 12x8 
inches, leather covered. Choice of other diam- 
eters when wanted. 

259 



New Steel Truck 

For Mounting "Ohio" Ensilage Cutters 




Fig. 815 



This new steel truck is suitable for mounting all sizes 
of "Ohio" Silage Cutters with traveling feed tables, both 
Blower and Carrier style, and it is recommended as a 
thoroughly practical, economical and satisfactory mount- 
ing for all parties who wish to move their machines fre- 
quently or regularly. All parts are interchangeable, and 
in case of accident may be readily replaced. 

Full description and price in our Feed and Ensilage 
Cutter Catalog. 

260 

I 




Patented "Ohio 

Silage Distributer 

Furnished FREE with all 
"Ohio" Monarch Blower 
machines. 



"Ohio" Silage Distributer. The new distributer furnished 
with each machine is a curved, jointed elbow, 5 feet long, open 
on the outer side so as to prevent back pressure. Firmest at- 
tachment to the pipe is secured by two clamping- bands around 
the upper end of the pipe. There is a hinged joint at the middle 
of the curve, which allows the outer end to be raised and 
lowered by means of a rope reaching to the ground, thus di- 
recting the cut material toward any point across the silo. By 
means of the swivel at the bottom of the pipe the hood can be 
turned to the right or left and in this manner the cut ensilage 
may be evenly distributed over the entire silo during the process 
of filling. This device is patented, and a distinctive feature to 
be had only with "Ohio" Blowers. 

Our New Silo Tube can be hung from the distributer or 
roof of silo. It catches the silage and delivers it in a compact 
mass at the bottom of the silo. This insures perfectly equal 
distribution of the cut feed, the leaves, moisture and heavier 
parts being always uniformly mixed as cut. It is flexible m 
character and is to be guided by hand. The man mside the 
silo will appreciate this tube, as its use eliminates the objection- 
able features heretofore connected with his part of the work. 

Important! 

The cut ensilage should be directed to the outer edge of the 
silo at all times, thus keeping it high and packing it there, let- 
ting the center take care of itself. The weight of the silage 
packs it in the center. 

261 



The New "Ohio" Shredder 

Showing a Sample of Shredded Corn Stalks 




Speed, 600 to 700 Revolutions 

The illustration above shows a regular "Ohio" machine 
equipped with our Patented Shredder Blades instead of with 
IQiives. These Shredder Blades are interchangeable with cut- 
ting Knives on all sizes of power cutters from No. 9 up, so that 
by purchasing the Blades extra the user has two machines in 
one, with little extra cost. 

When shredded properly, com is much more readily eaten 
and with much less waste than when fed whole. Shredded dry 
fodder is considered much better than dry cut fodder, for the 
reason that it is split and torn, thus doing away with the trou- 
blesome sharp edges. 

The new Shredder Blade successfully reduces the fodder 
to the proper condition, with the same power, speed and capacity 
as the regxilar "Ohio" Cutter. The blades have projecting ste^ 
teeth — no two in succession travel in the same path. Unlike the 
saw-blade or tooth Shredders, they do not pulverize and waste 
the leaves, but split and tear the stalks perfectly. The shredded 
com in the picture was made with two blades on the cylinder 
and it is reduced to a nice condition; hence four blades will 
shred it much finer. 

The greatest saving in this new shredder is that perfect 
work can be done at normal speed (600 to 700 revolutions), 
which means that the same power which runs the cutter will 
run the shredder — and that nothing extra but the shredder 
blades are needed to make two machines in one. 

262 



OFFICE OF THE SILVER MFG. CO. 



Salem, Ohio, U. S. A., Jan. 1, 1913. 
In issuing the foregoing we have spared neither pains 
nor expense in producing reliable data and information 
from best authorities in order to produce a book entirely 
comprehensive and worthy of the subject. 

In testimony of our efforts we mention with some pride 
that "Modem Silage Methods" has been furnished on many 
occasions to be used as a Text Book in the classes of our 
Agricultural Colleges throughout the States and recently 
the plates were furnished on request to the Director Gen- 
eral of Agriculture at Lisbon for the purpose of reproduc- 
ing the book in the Portuguese language. 

We charge a nominal price merely to help pay postage 
and to keep curiosity seekers and others not directly inter- 
ested from answering our advertisements. 
We do not make silos of any description. 
In describing our machines we have endeavored to 
give in condensed form such information as would enable 
beginners and others interested to form an intelligent idea 
of what their cutting equipment should consist, and if the 
reader contemplates the purchase of an ensilage cutter, 
we ask that the merits of the "Ohio" be investigated. We 
solicit your inquiries regarding cutting outfits and shall 
be glad to supply latest catalog upon application. 
Respectfully, 
THE SILVER MANUFACTURING CO. 



263 



jAN S MB 




im 




O 02 O fi ^ 

^ Sx; ^ © 0) 

C3 ^ cS 



S^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




0^02jr66 104 fl 



I. 



